


Fix It Fic

by Applesaday



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fandom AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-10-05 08:41:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20486045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Applesaday/pseuds/Applesaday
Summary: Regina Mills, world-renown author and public figure, spends her free time moonlighting as a fanfic writer for her own books. Emma Swan, an artist and fan, draws scenes from her favourite fics.





	1. Secret Identity

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Fix It Fic [Art]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20495945) by [starchasm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/starchasm/pseuds/starchasm). 
  * Inspired by [Fix it fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20481416) by [Misslane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misslane/pseuds/Misslane). 

> I consider this a love note of sorts to the SQ fandom.
> 
> This is a story about love, about hope, and above all, shenanigans. I had a lot of fun writing this, and I hope everyone has fun reading it!
> 
> I wanted to also give some thanks to the people who helped me with this fic:
> 
> First, to the Supernova mods for hosting this! You folks are amazing for wrangling this together every time.
> 
> Secondly, to my cheerleader Ivy.
> 
> Thirdly, to my betas, Brianna and Sylvia. 
> 
> And I have to give Sylvia a special shout-out too because they're the real superstar who took my jumbled mess and made it into an amazing fic.
> 
> And last but not least, to the artists that took my work and made something amazing from it: Misslane and Star! Please check out their work, and give them lots of love.
> 
> Also, this fic is solely based on this one tumblr post that I've been searching forever to find but goes something like: when I'm famous, I'll secretly write fics for my own novels.

Regina Mills was a world-renown author. She had an ongoing series about a group of time travellers chasing a villainous group throughout history, and people just couldn’t get enough of her characters and stories.

And so, an enormous fanbase grew out of the love people of all ages had for the group of five misfits, their shenanigans, and the world that she had created. She attended conventions, did signing events, and participated in Q&A sessions.

But Regina had a secret. 

You see, despite the fact that she had all these great stories in her mind about her characters, and that she was just itching to unleash them out into the world, her publishing agent had other plans.

* * *

“A hiatus? But I’m nearly done with the next book!”

The woman across from her, a simpering pencil-pusher by the name of Mary Margaret, sighed. “I know, but the public loves your books! You give them another one now, and you’ll finish the series too soon, not to mention you won’t give your readers enough time to process everything.”

Regina’s mind mentally flashed to the thousands of notifications she had received since the previous book had come out over half a year ago, of fans begging for more, or as they colloquially put it:  _ ‘I will DIE if I don’t find out what happens to Andy!’ _

But, she merely smiled and nodded. “Of course. Let me know when you’d like the manuscript.”

“Oh, give it a year or so. If anyone asks, writer’s block is your friend,” Mary Margaret added a little flourish at the end _ , _ like they were best buddies sharing a secret. “And you can even mention it at your interview tomorrow.”

“Right.”

Mary Margaret beamed and stood up, holding her hand out for Regina to shake. “Great! And again, congratulations - this latest one is a huge success, the numbers are through the roof!”

“And I have Blanchard Publishing to thank for that,” Regina monotonously responded with a practiced smile that, while convincing, wasn’t genuine, and shook the proffered hand. 

She wasn’t lying though, Blanchard Publishing had given her relative freedom in writing the stories she wanted to write. As this was her first contract, she didn’t want to rock the boat too much. 

It was already enough of a miracle that she, a completely unknown author with her first manuscript, had managed to get a contract with Blanchard Publishing, one of the most famous publishing houses in the world. And that wasn’t even mentioning the fact that she was out and proud, and her Latina heritage to boot. All of that certainly would have made her a less profitable candidate by traditional standards. But they took her in and allowed her to start a series that would take the world by storm.

It was just better if they didn’t control her publishing schedules, or tweak some of the plot lines, among other things.

But, small victories.

And anyway, it wasn’t like she couldn’t find another outlet to express herself.

What no one knew about Regina Mills was that she moonlighted as a fanfic writer. Yes, for her own books.

Of course, she wasn’t about to publish the actual stories from the books, but she found out via Twitter that apparently a lot of people loved getting to see the in-between moments. Or plot variations. Stuff that didn’t and wouldn’t happen in the book.

There were parts of her stories that she had had to cut short for the sake of her quota, where she was told that they just didn’t need to include that scene, or they just wanted the story to go somewhere else, to ‘add more drama’.

And so Regina created a fake username, an account on Fanfiction Net and Archive of Our Own, and just put up her little stories. Nothing ever too long, just drabbles, as she found out they were called.

She never said anything or divulged anything about herself in the notes, she had her private messages turned off, never responded to reviews, and she had no other social media accounts for her alter-ego. She originally had her doubts that anyone would actually read them, it was mostly her way to just put it out into the world, as her mother had suggested. But surprisingly enough, she had an incredible amount of reviews and favourites and follows, with people anxiously wanting more.

And now that she had an entire year, she figured she could have some fun with her fans.

* * *

** _Excerpt from Book One of the Time Chasers_ **

_ “I suppose you’re all wondering why I’ve gathered you here today,” said the impeccably dressed man standing in the middle of the warehouse. His three tailored piece suit, neatly trimmed beard and short, gelled hair screamed money and power.  _

_ Kate blinked, adjusting her stance, hoping her leather jacket hid the collapsible escrima sticks she had brought. She wasn’t dumb to respond to an anonymous invite to rendezvous in a mysterious warehouse without bringing some sort of weapon. “I’m not a betting woman, but I’d be ready to put down money that you’ve been waiting your whole life to say that line.” _

_ The man nodded, self-assured. “I have actually.” _

_ The other three people in the room were just watching the exchange silently as if they were trying to gauge the situation before interacting. _

_ In fact, no one had said a word since they had come in. They had arrived at the warehouse a few minutes ago, one at a time, and once all four of them were standing there awakwardly, the door opened, and the well-dressed man before them beckoned them in. _

_ He guided them through the maze of crates and machinery to the clearing where they now stood. _

_ “Why are we here?” asked the only other man in the room. He was a tall, dark-skinned man with a set jaw. In Kate’s mind, she figured he was military by the way he held himself. _

_ “Yes, I am about to get to that, Captain. My name is Jagmeet Singh. You can call me Jag. Before I begin though, I must ask you all for your utmost discretion; this isn’t for the faint of heart, and this is dangerous work.” _

_ Another woman, so pale that Kate had to wonder if she’d ever seen the sunlight, piped up, “Are we being recruited for something illegal?” _

_ Jag sighed and let out a wry chuckle. “There is no legality, either one way or another, for what I’m about to tell you, Ms. Greene.” _

_ “I’m not about to get involved in shady stuff,” said the last woman. She was dark-skinned, and had long dreads gathered into a ponytail. She was wearing a sensible navy blue pantsuit along with some fashionable though altogether impractical heels. Clearly she had been grappling with whether or not to come to this meeting and had decided to do so after a long day at the office _ _ , _ _ if Kate had to guess. _

_ “It’s not shady...at least, not in that way.” When Jag saw that his guests were all looking at him strangely still, he decided to change tack. “Look. You are all experts in your field. I have searched all over the country for people with your specific skill sets. Just my luck that all four of you are here, nearby, and therefore saves me the cost of paying for lodging.  _

_ “I need your help with a delicate matter that requires each of your area of expertise. It is top-secret, and you are free to leave at any time. I just ask that you listen to me before passing judgment. _

_ “If you decide that you’d still rather not do this, then no hard feelings, and we can part as unlikely friends.” _

_ Kate snorted. “You are just full of pop-culture references, aren’t you?” _

_ Jag looked at her, and deadpanned, “Et tu, Kate? You seem to recognize them pretty easily.” _

_ With a huff, Kate crossed her arms. It’s not her fault that her niece wanted Kate to watch movies together with her. _

_ “Anyway, are we all still here?” No one moved, maybe everyone was too curious to do so, and Jag smiled, a bit more assured. “Good. I need all of you to help me with a specific problem: Rogue time  _ _ travellers _ _ .” _

_ “Time travel?” asked the woman with dreads in disbelief. _

_ “Yes, Dr. Reif, time travel.” _

_ Dr. Reif scoffed incredulously. “You are on something else. Time travel isn’t real.” _

_ “I wouldn’t be so quick to judge,” Jag countered. _

_ “I would. You clearly know who I am. A respected historian, and believe me, if people were  _ _ travelling _ _ to the past, it would’ve been well-recorded by now.” _

_ “Or would it?” Jag asked. “If time had been changed, you wouldn’t know anything about it. I promise I can prove it to you.” _

_ The other man finally spoke again. “Okay, then prove it. I’m not buying into this either, nor do I understand what I’m doing here. I mean, I can see what a historian is doing here, but I’m a military strategist that has left active duty. What do you need me for?” _

_ Jag took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He pointed around the room in turn and explained. “Dr. Laila Reif, respected historian and professor at Harvard. Kate Chase, martial arts trainer and weapons specialist. Ella Greene, linguistic expert in over a dozen languages. Finally, Captain Dean Kayes from the US Military. I can assure you that all of you are needed in some way. For now, follow me.” _

_ He led the way to a metal container. “Behind these doors is a time machine. It can seat five, and while I will go with you guys this time around, I will be running point from the present in subsequent missions. Now, Captain Kayes, if you’d like to lend me a hand?” _

_ The other man stepped up and helped Jag to unlock the container, behind which sat a… _

_ “Seriously? A beat-up Honda Civic? What, was the DeLorean not in the budget?” Kate asked, unamused. _

_ A small chorus of chortles was heard from the rest of the group. _

_ “As I said, don’t be so quick to judge. Appearances are deceiving. Now, follow me.” _


	2. School

Emma considered herself the epitome of A Gay Mess. 

Her room was a maze to navigate, with art supplies strewn everywhere, but for Emma, it was organized chaos, just how she liked it. It didn’t matter that she had leather jackets hung around every perch like she was hosting a very eccentric and new age leather jackets shop, she knew where everything was, even if everyone else that dared to enter was puzzled as to how anything could be found.

Currently, she was sitting sideways on her chair with her legs dangling off the armrest, her long blonde hair in a messy bun, eating chips as she watched yet another video with her headphones on.

It was a recent interview from the author of her latest obsession, Time Chasers. She was sure that every little clip had been analyzed for each microexpression that Regina Mills had made as she answered the interviewer’s questions, but she still wanted to watch it for herself.

_ “Well, I won’t beat around the bush, your latest novel has set the internet aflame!” Lance, the interviewer, said with a laugh. “I can practically still hear the screams of anguish coming from the fans, even though it’s been what, six months?” _

_ Regina let out a laugh as well. “Yes, the reactions have been great. I’m so happy everyone loved the third installment. Knowing that everyone is always weary on sequels and how they stack up against the original, I’m proud that everyone seems to be hooked.” _

_ Lance nodded. “Well, it’s kind of hard not to be, particularly after that killer cliffhanger! I obviously won’t spoil it for any viewers at home who have yet to read it, but how are you planning on resolving that, do you have any ideas?” _

_ “You know I can’t reveal anything!” Regina chided Lance playfully. _

_ “Okay okay.” Lance put up his hands in surrender, grinning widely. “But do you at least have a plot thought out about how things will proceed?” _

_ The author let out a wince at that. “I suppose we’ll have to see, I did leave our heroes in a pretty sticky situation, and my nemesis, writer’s block, decided to visit.” _

_ “Oooh, I’m sure no one will like hearing that. So let’s change tack a bit. Let’s talk inclusivity. Your book boasts a group of five people, and as many people have both lauded and criticized, not a single white guy among them! Is this something you planned for, or were aware of?” _

_ Regina took a deep breath and let out a shaky chuckle. “If I hadn’t been aware, I certainly am by now. When I was creating the core team that we’d be following, I was never thinking about needing to exclude, but as the room filled up with the characters in my mind, I realized that I was creating a mostly female group of people, all of them of different cultural backgrounds as well, and it felt right to me. Not to mention, when you think about time travelling in popular media, they usually travel to different points in time of America’s history. So I wanted to subvert that and-” _

“SWAN!”

Emma nearly jumped out of her skin and yanked out her headphones, having been so entranced by Regina Mills’ words that she was completely unaware of her roommate and best friend’s approach.

Lacey, voracious reader that she was, had not only gotten Emma into  _ Time Chasers _ but also into the world of fanfics.

It was incredible how much time Emma spent reading, considering that she had never been a big fan of books as a kid. It wasn’t for lack of trying, but they never held her attention. Which was why some six months ago, when Lacey handed Emma her tablet with the novel opened up, pleading “please read it, it’s just the first chapter, I promise you won’t regret it,” Emma did the good-friend thing and sat down to read it.

And then she read the next chapter, then the book, and she started on the second novel. She would have read all three books in one sitting if it hadn’t been for the fact that she had classes the next morning.

After Emma had finished reading the novels, she was desperate for more.

“And that’s why fanfics were invented!” Lacey beamed.

“Fan...fics?” Emma sounded the word out, unsure if she truly wanted to know. 

But Lacey had been ready with the delightful explanation of what fanfics were. Emma figured that she had nothing to lose by reading one or two.

She was wrong.

Her concept of sleep was completely lost, because Emma dived into the world of fanfics and never resurfaced, leading to long nights and reading thousands of words about the same couple of characters in different situations. Sometimes they were even multiple stories about the same situations, but Emma still read all of them.

It had brought her and Lacey closer together, as they discussed fanfics, gave each other recommendations, and overall just gushed about their favourite ship: Kandy.

As Lacey stood in her doorway just now, grinning from ear to ear, tablet in hand, Emma wondered what had made her friend so happy that she had to burst in there, screaming like an Australian banshee.

“You’ll never guess.”

Emma cracked a grin and rolled her eyes in mock exasperation, letting her headphones rest around her neck. “I probably won’t, so why don’t you save me the trouble and tell me what’s got you so happy.”

Lacey’s answer was to rush over and hand Emma the tablet.

The browser showed a fanfic on AO3 with the title  _ Through Time and Space _ .

“A new fic?” And then she read who it was by. “TimelessLoveChaser posted a new fic?!”

TimelessLoveChaser was an enigma in their fandom. Imagine the most popular writer that just so happened to be the most reclusive. Their fics were all over the fandom. A quick search would show that there were gifsets and artworks and people quoting the fics as if it were canon. Everyone in the fandom considered the stories mandatory reading for newbies . What frustrated everyone was that, whoever it was, they only wrote one-shots, and never interacted with anyone. It was as if the writer had been overcome with a small plot-bunny and just wanted to post those small stories and then disappear into the night.

“Yes, but take a look at the top.” Lacey pointed to the area in question.

And there it was - Chapters: 1/?

“A multi-chapter fic?” Emma was gaping. She quickly scanned the summary.

_ After Book 3. Andy has been kidnapped by the Corvus Group. Kate and the rest of the team are rushing to find out how to get her back. _

Short and to the point, as the author was wont to do.

“Have you started reading it?” Emma asked, setting the tablet down on the table beside her laptop.

Lacey shook her head. “Nope, I just saw it, hence the screaming.” She then looked to Emma’s laptop and the still going interview. “Don’t tell me you’re going to be dissecting this interview too!”

Emma looked at her, puzzled. “Honestly, I wanted to see it because everyone seems to be going crazy over it on Tumblr. I don’t know what the big deal is, he’s asking the standard questions. Unless the problem is Lance’s purple suit…it’s too much.”

“Can I?” Lacey asked, pointing to the laptop.

Emma shrugged as a response, gesturing for her to take control of the laptop, pressing the spacebar to pause the video before unplugging the headphones from the jack.

Lacey moved the video to another point further on. If Emma hadn’t seen Lacey’s perfect accuracy before, she would’ve been flabbergasted as to how her friend had managed to land the video marker at just the right moment.

_ “Okay, okay. Now, I sent out a tweet before this interview, seeing if the fans had any burning questions they wanted me to ask you. And apart from a lot of infighting, the main thing everyone wants to know is: ships. I trust you, as a denizen of Twitter yourself, know what ships are?” _

_ Regina let out a small laugh, with a stiff smile, raising her eyebrows ever so slightly and cocking her head a bit as she answered. “Oh yes. I have been tagged in my fair share of ship-related...discussions.” _

_ Lance chuckled. “So, I figure I could see if I can help settle things. Kandy or Rodrea?” _

_ Regina let out a deep sigh. “Well, it wouldn’t be fair for me to spoil it…” _

_ “Oh, of course, the ‘Queen of Secrecy’ is what they call you. But Rodrea fans are convinced that Rodrigo, Andy’s - or should I say, Andrea’s - fiance was left quite literally at the altar, of her home time at the turn of the 20th Century in historic Puerto Rico, and whisked away by Kate and the Time Chasers. Which begs the question as to whether the charming Kate has captured Andy’s heart, or whether she will return to live the rest of her life with Rodrigo?” _

_ Regina made a noncommittal hum. “I suppose we’ll have to see. But a lot of fans, the really smart ones, have already figured it out. They know who Andy will choose, and they know that she will follow her heart.” _

Lacey pressed the spacebar to pause the interview again. “And there you have it.”

Emma grimaced. “Not too positive, is it?”

“At all. I mean, the Rodrea fans are all over this, claiming that Andrea knows the risks of time-travel and staying in the present would be dangerous. Plus the fact that she was in a happy relationship and about to marry the man of her dreams, and that Kate, the lesbian seductress extraordinaire, wouldn’t be able to break such a display of true love. Nor make her gay.”

Emma made a gagging motion. “Please. Andy had the opportunity to go back to Rodrigo at the end of the first book, and she chose to stay with Kate. And if anything, Regina Mills said that people have already figured it out, who's to say it’s not us Kandy shippers?”

“The fact that the Rodreas are claiming that she said ‘smart ones’, and they think it means them. Suffice it to say that a lot of people in the fandom are frothing at the mouth over the insinuation that we’re dumb for shipping the gay ship.”

“Of course. Silly us for wanting some good queer content.” Emma looked back at the paused interview, the caption of Regina’s last sentence still there. “Besides, everyone knows that Andy is the modern Andrea, and if I were a conspiracy theorist, and I had to say that she was giving us a clue, I’d say that she could’ve easily said ‘who Andrea will choose’ if she had meant she was going back to Rodrigo. But she said Andy.”

Lacey hummed in contemplation, but then shook her head. “You’re reading too much into it Swan. It’s not the first time Regina Mills talks about Andy as the historic soon-to-be housewife.” 

Emma paused for a moment, feeling really flared up at the thought that people were dismissing the importance of Kate in Andy’s life. “Even if it was, ‘follow her heart’? It’s not like Andy has dropped everything and risked the mission because Kate has been hurt. We know that Andy has Kate’s heart.”

“Hey, you’re preaching to the choir here,” Lacey added with a chuckle. “At least we’ve got fics to placate us.”

“Very true.” Emma swiped the tablet from where she had put it down. “I call dibs on reading it first!”

“What?” Lacey yelped, jabbing a finger towards the laptop right beside them. “You have your own laptop, you twit, go read it there, and leave my tablet!”

“But I like reading it on here better!” Emma whined, hugging the tablet close to her.

“Then buy your own tablet!” Lacey retorted, grabbing the tablet back with ease.

Emma tried her powerful pout, but no luck.

“I’m immune!” Lacey cackled, leaving Emma’s room.

With a huff, Emma went to open the fic. The wonders of university was that she had plenty of time in between classes to read. She finished reading the first chapter just in time before she had to head out. The downside was that she was itching to make fanart from it, but she couldn’t very well take her drawing tablet with her.

So, she settled for doodling in her notebook.

Emma was quite a talented and prolific artist. She had a store set up for fanart, and the money helped to offset her education costs. She sold physical prints of her work and took commissions from Kandy shippers who wanted pieces featuring her imaginings of certain events in the books, and fic scenes too.

As she sketched, she was barely listening to her professor drone on about literature and its relation to queerness.

Despite being an apt class for the discussion she and Lacey had just had, she knew what Professor Gold would say, and she wasn’t really interested in his hetero hot take. It’s not like he had scoured the singular libraries in the towns his many foster homes over the years searching for any sign that he wasn’t a freak.

It was part of the reason Emma hadn’t been a fan of books. In it, everyone was straight, and representation was maybe sprinkled on as a throwaway line that could be interpreted either way. And Emma hated that. When she had been young, and she had her first crush on a girl, she had been appalled and frightened. 

She had searched high and low, as discreetly as she could, for some sign that she wasn’t weird or defective for feeling that way. It was another time and Emma couldn’t very well ask the librarian in the Middle of Freaking Nowhere in the conservative Midwest for queer books - the best she found was  _ Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe _ , and it hadn’t been enough.

But Emma hoped to change that. She wanted to one day, after she graduated, bring to light the terrible disparity between queer representation in books and popular media. The latter had a decent amount of representation to be found, while the former was still something not completely there. Hopefully, it would inspire more queer authors to come forward and share their stories. 

She hoped to use her knowledge to create a movement, fund an organization, and create programs for teens to find queer books and learn about their feelings through representation. The ideas were there, but she first had to finish her studies.

“Ms. Swan!” Gold called out. His sharp lilted accent bringing Emma right back to reality. She snapped her head up and blinked like a deer in the headlights.

“If you’re not too busy doodling and daydreaming, would you mind helping me out by answering this question?”

“Uhm, well, I-”

Figuring that Emma had no idea what he was talking about, he threw her a bone by saying, “The question, Ms. Swan, is: why is queer romance not prevalent in books, but queer tropes such as flirting with the protagonist, generally someone of the same sex, prevalent?”

“Well, as I see it-”

Gold didn’t even let her finish. “I trust that you read your assigned reading?”

“Yes.” She hadn’t.

“Then Hardt should provide you with the answer. We’re talking about Hardt’s opinions on the matter, not your own. Do you have your book with you?”

“Er...no.”

Gold sighed. “Please remember to do so next time, Ms. Swan.”

Emma gave a slight nod, a thumbs up, and a toothy smile. Gold continued rambling, and Emma continued adding the finishing touches to her work.

It wasn’t that she thought of herself better than everyone else by not paying attention. But she knew all of this stuff. Once she had moved out of the Middle of Nowhere and headed to Boston to go to school, she had spent hours learning about queer literature. She knew exactly what Hardt thought, but she would save that for the essay that was certainly coming up.

Thankfully, class was over soon enough, so Emma grabbed her satchel and headed to the library.

There, as expected, she found Lacey, who was entranced by something on her tablet.

“Hey,” Emma greeted, dropping her satchel beside her as she sat down on the wooden chair beside her friend.

Lacey didn’t even respond, which meant she was really in the zone.

Emma poked her to get her attention, garnering a yelp that was a bit too loud for a library. It certainly got the attention of quite a few people.

And an annoyed stare from a library employee.

Lacey glared at Emma. “You could’ve just said hi like a normal person,” she harshly whispered at Emma.

“I did!” Emma hissed, incredulous.

The library employee from earlier walked over to them. Splaying her hands over the table they were occupying, she narrowed her eyes and said, “I trust you two know what a library is?”

Emma was about to respond with something snarky, when Lacey blurted, “Sorry! We’re really sorry, my friend just gets overly enthusiastic.”

The librarian, whose name tag indicated that her name was Marian, narrowed her eyes as if she was trying to gauge how truthful Lacey was. After a vibrant smile from Emma to corroborate - initiated after Lacey subtly nudged Emma in the ribs with her elbow - she nodded and left without saying another word.

“I know you want to get a job as a librarian, but suck-up much?” Emma murmured after Marian was out of earshot.

Lacey turned to glare at Emma. “I’m not sucking up!” she harshly whispered back.

Emma raised her eyebrows in disbelief, letting her expression respond for her.

“I’m not. And this isn’t about the job,” Lacey said, attempting to brush the matter off with an air of aloofness.

“Then what-” and then it dawned on Emma. “Don’t tell me this is the girl in the library you’ve been crushing on.”

Lacey groaned. “I was hoping you wouldn’t connect the dots.”

Emma looked entirely too happy with this new piece of information. “I have, and now I need to know more.”

Lacey scrunched her face. “Can I at least finish the first chapter?”

It was then that Emma realized that Lacey was in the midst of finishing the first chapter of Through Time and Space. “Oh fine, but don’t think I’ll let it go.”

While Emma did fully intend to keep grilling her friend on her crush, as soon as Lacey finished reading the chapter, they became fully engrossed with discussing it. Not a lot had happened, mostly exposition to get the reader situated, but it still provided for plenty of speculation.

* * *

** _Excerpt from Book One of the Time Chasers_ **

_ “This is much more incredible than what I could have imagined for the future.” _

_ Kate looked up from her phone. Andrea was standing in the doorway to Kate’s room, leaning against the doorframe, using a towel to ruffle her long hair dry. She had gotten herself cleaned up, and had borrowed a flower dress that Kate’s roommate Liz had left behind. She had the translator necklace fastened around her neck, the receiver earrings clipped to her ears, as well as the control bracelet on her left wrist, which allowed her to communicate with Kate in English. As Andy only spoke Spanish, and Kate just knew English, a smattering of Vietnamese from her mother, as well as some Spanish learnt in school, they had no common ground. Thankfully Jag had the technology to help them. _

_ “Beats turn of the century Puerto Rico?” Kate asked with a lopsided smirk. _

_ Andrea nodded enthusiastically. “All these inventions and technology. It’s a bit overwhelming really.” _

_ Kate stood up, leaving her phone behind on the mattress, and walked over to Andrea. “You do know you’re going to have to go back, right?” _

_ “What?!” Andrea took a step back at that. _

_ “You can’t stay here Andrea. You, being a historian yourself, shouldn’t need me to tell you that.” _

_ Andrea looked away. “Actually, no.” _

_ Kate looked puzzled. “What do you mean?” _

_ “Women cannot have jobs like that. I lied. I am really a historian’s assistant.” Andrea didn’t dare to look up, to see how Kate would take the revelation. _

_ “Hey, that’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Kate said, putting her hand on Andrea’s shoulder, getting the latter to look back up. Kate was smiling sympathetically. “I can only imagine how hard it must be for you. But nonetheless, you must know that taking someone out of time could have disastrous consequences.” _

_ Andy sighed. “And if I refuse?” _

_ “Refuse? Don’t you have a wedding waiting for you?” _

_ “Well yes, but-” _

_ “And wasn’t it you that said that as soon as we figured out why someone was after you and got rid of the threat, you’d go back? To be with the man you loved?” _

_ “But-” _

_ “Then, wouldn’t-” _

_ “Quiet yourself!”  _

_ It was in these moments that the translator was a bit buggy. It translated everything immediately word for word, and while Kate got the gist, she still had to laugh heartily. _

_ “What’s so funny?” Andrea asked, frowning. _

_ “Your translator,” Kate responded as she tried to catch her breath, leaning against the wall to help her. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t laugh, I promise I’m not trying to make fun of you, but it just sounds so peculiar.” _

_ Andrea removed the clasp of the translator necklace, and said, “¿Bien que podrías intentar de aprender español?” _

_ That sobered Kate up quickly. “I’m not a linguist. That’s Ella’s department.” _

_ With the earrings still on, she still understood Kate, and as she took a step forward, she responded, “Yo podría enseñarte. Si me dejas quedarme aquí.” _

_ They were now standing mere feet apart, and Kate felt like she had to take a step back, except she was against the wall, with no way out. “I really have no idea what you’re saying.” _

_ Andrea sighed and put the necklace back on. “If I teach Spanish to you, you would let that I stay for a little longer?” _

_ “But what about your marriage?” Kate was flustered, and blurted out the first stupid counterpoint that came to her mind. _

_ “We have a machine that travels to the past. I can return to the same moment we left at any time. Please...I don’t want to return. Not yet.” _

_ “I thought you were happy there.” Kate was puzzled. The woman she had met back in Puerto Rico was the exact opposite of her. That Andrea had only joined them out necessity and maybe there was a bit of intrigue. She made Kate nearly promise under threat of death via a candelabra that was nearby that she would be returned for her wedding once this was over. And now she didn’t want to go? “We caught the Corvus agent and we got him to admit that there was no plot to kill you. So you’re safe to go back. What changed your mind?” _

_ “You. All this. If you were in my shoes, you would feel the same way. I ended up getting taken away because we thought that there was a ploy to kill me from this Corvus. And even if I can stay calm that I am not in danger, I don’t want to go back for now. Yes, I am about to be married, and yes, Rodrigo is a very good man, and I care for him very much, but the opportunity to have an adventure is too good to leave it.” _

_ Kate sighed. “And how exactly am I going to explain this to Jag?” _

_ “Tell him anything. I am certain that you can invent something.” And then Andrea snapped her fingers. “I know! Tell him that I can help with the part for treatments of wounds.” _

_ “Err…” Kate looked a bit skeptical. “Pretty sure our medical advancements can help. And Dean has had some field medical training." _

_ Andrea wasn’t having it. “And if you are in the past and someone gets hurt? Like you did?” _

_ Kate touched her arm where it had been slashed and Andrea had patched it up for her.“Touche. And anyway, where are you planning on staying? I don’t think they take pesos here.” _

_ Andrea leveled Kate with a glare. “Very funny. But I was thinking that I could live here? You are having trouble finding someone to room with you? And Jag pays us for our services?” _

_ Kate nodded slowly. “Fair enough. I suppose that if we get Jag to agree to letting you stay here as our healer of sorts, he can also pay you a stipend and then you can help pay for the rent. You’ve got yourself a deal, Andrea.” _

_ At that, Andrea made a face. “If I am going to be staying here, I will need a name that is more modern.” _

_ “Andrea is a modern name here?” Kate frowned. “I’ve met lots of people named Andrea.” _

_ “Perhaps, but you pronounce it wrong. It is An-dre-ah. You all say it like And-rey-ah and it infuriates me.” Andrea took care to exaggerate the mouth movements dramatically, and it made Kate laugh. “Also, I was thinking that I need something to help me separate my life in the past and my new life.” _

_ Kate felt that her head was spinning. “Wait, new life? So what, now you’re never going back to Puerto Rico?” _

_ “I didn’t say that.”  _

_ “A new life implies you’re here to stay,” Kate countered. _

_ Andrea shook her head. “Perhaps it is traditionally, but not me. And since for now, I am staying here, I would like a name. And while I teach Spanish to you, you teach English to me and you help me find a new name and adjust to life here.” _

_ Kate smiled softly. “I would love to.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, because I thought entirely way too much about the Time Chasers, here is some basic info on them. Plus the actors I pictured them as.
> 
> Kate Chase - Main character. Weapons and combat specialist. Tends to end up charming many notable female historical characters. Became the leader of the team after a bit of contested debate with Dean. Levy Tran  
Andrea (Andy) Corrientes - Woman out of time. Lived in 1900 Puerto Rico as a historian’s assistant. About to get married to Rodrigo. Melonie Diaz  
Dr. Laila Reif - Main character. Historian with more degrees than should be healthy. Nafessa Williams  
Ella Greene - Main Character. Linguist. Can and probably will cuss you out in different languages. Violett Beane  
Captain Dean Kayes - Main Character. Strategist. Self-appointed leader until mission goes badly and he hands over reins to Kate. Aubrey Joseph  
Jag - Mysterious benefactor who hires the 4 main characters to chase down Corvus Group. Vir Das


	3. Social Media

Once they made their way back to their rooms, Emma took the sketch from her notebook and scanned it into her computer. She cleaned up the lines and coloured it in, adding some final touches to the artwork and tweaking it where she thought best.

It was the first scene in the fic, which mirrored the third book’s actual events. Andy is being taken away by shadowy figures, and Kate is yelling for her, an injury keeping her crumbled on the floor, unable to chase after Andy. Each woman has one of their arms reaching for the others, fingers almost touching.

“Dramatic,” Lacey commented, taking Emma out of her zone. She took off her headphones and turned around to face her friend. “But I love it. The fandom will like the angst.”

Emma rolled her eyes jokingly. “Thank you for your stamp of approval,” she retorted.

Lacey beamed. “I aim to please. Anyway, I wanted to know if you’ll be joining Ruby and me at the Rabbit Hole tonight?”

Emma grinned and nodded. “Sure, it’s been a while since we’ve all hung out.”

The Rabbit Hole was the campus’ least popular bar and meeting place. It was owned by a woman named Ruby Lucas, and the title of least popular worked for her. She didn't like large crowds, and as Ruby was someone who could get anyone to spill their life story over a round of drinks, it wouldn't really work if the bar was always busy. Due to that, she considered herself the prime fountain of information for Storybrooke University.

But before Emma could enjoy drinks, she wanted to post her art.

She added her signature to the bottom right of the canvas and then posted it both to Tumblr and Twitter with the same caption.

_ #Kandy _ 🍬 _ art from #TimelessLoveChaser’s new fic Through Time and Space. Gotta say that the thought of a full-length fic from them is making me  _ 😍

Maybe it was a good thing Emma left to go get drinks. Otherwise, she would’ve probably been left gaping at how much her artwork had travelled around the fandom.

And outside of it.

* * *

Regina kept her social media notifications on mute because otherwise, her phone would be constantly sounding off with a new mention. It unfortunately did mean she sometimes missed more important notifications, but it would be impossible for her to answer everyone - not to mention most people contacting her just wanted spoilers. The prominent people in her life knew that the best way to reach her was to text her.

Of course, her sister, the Fandom Expert Extraordinaire - her self appointed title - made sure to keep her in the loop with her carefully curated twitter searches. So when Regina got a text from her sister which only said  _ ‘how come your fandom is the one with the creative ones?’ _ along with a twitter link, she clicked on it without much thought.

It was a piece of art. She knew her fans loved to illustrate her books and it was nothing new for her. But she always found herself breathless when she saw art for her fics.

When Regina had first started writing under her fan pseudonym, she figured she would just get a few reviews and that’s it. But as she eventually found out, everyone absolutely  _ loved _ her fics. Fans had left hundreds of comments and reactions.

But she had never dared to enter the fandom to see if there was more. No, that was too risky.

There was a fine line between her interacting with fans and being a step away from a lawsuit.

The problem was, even though Regina would love to see what people were doing with her characters, Regina knew that if she somehow wound up reading a fic, and an idea she had been planning on using in her novel was in that fic, she would have to scrap it.

Even if she had had the idea before reading the fic. There was no way to prove that she didn’t get the idea from the fic.

But, she figured she could take a peek for once, while doing her best to avoid fics. So she poured herself a nice glass of red wine, headed to her computer, and searched for her pseudonym’s hashtag.

“What the-”

Regina had been expecting a few results. But this was endless.

She scanned the first results. They were quoting her fics and creating works of art, playmixes and even some graphics and edits. There were some who were also praising her for writing so elegantly, for her imagination, for her fixes and alternate takes.

_ I know they probably won’t see this but thank you #timelesslovechaser _ 🙏

_ #Timelesslovechaser - the real mvp of the #Kandy fandom _ 🍬🍬🍬

Regina had seen the candy emoji used for the ship’s portmanteau and she found it cute.

A bit further down had an artwork of the two women sharing a bowl of sweets while watching a movie, cuddling together. It was from a scene in one of her one-shots. A homage of sorts to the ship name.

Now she wished she had an account to give a like to these beautiful works and their kind words. She was absolutely loving the display of creativity.

And then she reached the conspiracy theorists. In particular a very heated conversation that was brewing a few days ago.

_ ok but, what if #timelesslovechaser is just Regina Mills writing #kandy because she knows how much we love it and want to see it become canon. _

_ @kandy4ever but why would she write fics...she’s writing the freaking series?! if #kandy is supposed to be canon then why isn’t she making it in her stories? #idiotmuch _

_ @rodreaislove who knows!! It’s fiction, why are you getting so pressed over it? You can ship yours and I’ll ship mine! And there’s no need to throw names  _ 🤗

_ @kandy4ever because it literally makes no sense. Not my fault you are delusional for shipping something that will never become canon  _

_ @rodreaislove  _ 👀 _ says the person who is shipping a ship that is literally 100 years apart!!!!!! Andy stayed for Kate! _

_ @kandy4ever she never says that ffs #whyme _

Regina backed out of the conversation. She had been tagged in enough ‘ship hate’ as it was called, to know that the Rodrea fans were merciless when attacking the Kandy fans. It made her sick to her stomach. She thought she was just creating a fun series that people could enjoy. Not something that would prompt people to spew such hatred for one another. She could have sworn she had made it abundantly clear in her writing as to which couple would eventually become reality.

She scrolled for a bit more, where she saw so much more, ranging from people creating graphics with quotes from her fics to covers and so much more artwork. After a while, she went back up to the tweet that Zelena had originally sent her. It was an artist with the username  _ Gay Artist, Will Work for Kandy _ and the handle @EmSwanArt.

Something about the dramatic stance of the artwork made Regina want to see if the artist had drawn more.

She knew she shouldn’t....she had made it a rule to not delve into the fandom. She already had enough from the random mentions she got roped into, but it was tempting.

“Oh what the hell, I’m already here, might as well,” Regina murmured to herself.

Before clicking through, she hovered over the username to get their twitter card.

The bio was pretty clear cut: _She/her 24._ _artist._ _please stop asking me to write fics guys, i do not write!_

That sounded promising for Regina, who was weary on coming across fics during her perusal.

So she took a swig from her glass and clicked on her twitter. 

“Wow.”

Clearly with the talent she was seeing, Regina wasn’t surprised at the fact that this woman had over 2,000 followers.

She began perusing this artist’s twitter page and soon enough she found herself finding out that her name was Emma, and she was a university student. Regina was enjoying this Emma’s running commentary on life and fandom, with some fan art in the middle. There were a few posts on fics, but Regina just scrolled past them quickly enough.

Apparently, she even charged commissions for Kandy artworks and even original art. Regina was impressed to say the least.

She went back up and saw that Emma has another link on her twitter. That of a site called Tumblr. She couldn’t say she’d never heard of it, but from what Zelena’s mentioned, she was warned to stay away.

Despite that, Regina wanted to know if there was a way for Regina to send a message to Emma, to show her appreciation and thanks. There was no email listed, and her online store required an account. 

So she clicked through to the Tumblr and did find it. The Tumblr was essentially a nearly identical copy of her Twitter in terms of content, and on the left side, she found the link on the menu to send in questions.

Much to her happiness, she accepted anonymous questions! Regina set her glass down and prepared to compose a note.

Funnily enough, it took a lot of rewrites and edits. She was afraid of coming off too fangirl-y, or dismissive. But eventually, she was satisfied

After battling with the captcha, Regina smiled and clicked the Ask button and took a final swig of her wine.

* * *

By the time Emma made it back to her apartment, both she and Lacey were more than a little tipsy. And when she checked her phone and saw she had a new ask, she was sure she was seeing things.

“D’you see this?” Emma slurred, practically shoving the phone in Lacey’s face.

Lacey yelped and fussed, swatting the phone away, her accent stronger as she muttered, “Watchit.”

Emma shrugged and began to read out the ask. “ _ ‘Hello. I just wanted to say that I have come across the art you’ve created for my stories, and I have to say they are absolutely wonderful. Thank you so much for bringing my words to life. - TLC’ _ . Whoa. Do you think that’s really TLC?”

Lacey turned to look at Emma, eyes unfocused. “TLC? Tomato and lettuce and what was the last one? Cabbages? Do you yankees put cabbages on your sandwiches? Heathens.”

“Not a sandwich! The fanfic author. Timeless Love Chaser. TLC,” Emma explained, hoping she was sounding relatively coherent.

With Lacey’s drawn out “Oooohhhhh,” Emma was sure her roommate got the message. “How do you know it’s really her? Or him. I mean, I love you Em, but TLC wouldn’t come out of their cave of obscurity and mystery just for you out of the blue. It’s like a Yeti sighting. Could be one of those rodeo clowns. ”

It was a well-known joke in the Kandy fandom that, whenever they wanted to talk about the Rodrea fans without actually showing up in the search, they’d refer to them as rodeo clowns. A bit crude, but Kandy fans were called worse, so rodeo clowns was actually benign..

“Why would they want to pretend to be them? Kinda stupid.”

“Do we know why they do half of their shit? They are sadists. They prolly just want to see you embarrass yourself. Don’t answer it.”

Emma scoffed. “I’m not gonna ignore it. What if it’s really them?”

“Your funeral.” Lacey shrugged, heading to her room with a wave of her hand, stumbling along the way.

As Emma headed towards her own room, she grappled with whether or not she should answer. To be fair, she was a bit drunk, so her inhibitions were a bit lowered. By the time sat down in front of her desk, opened her Tumblr and looked at the ask once more, she wondered if Lacey was right. 

But Emma was the kind of person who found herself inexplicably open-hearted online. Knowing of her childhood being shuffled around foster homes, everyone’s first instinct was to dismiss her as some jaded and cynical person. But Emma knew of kindness. She had witnessed it in random strangers, in the multitude of people who supported her work and bought commissions and inspired her. People who would be there for Emma, like Lacey, who welcomed her with open arms, and would discuss far reaching topics with her, from ships to life advice.

She considered those people true friends. And she would have never had them if she hadn’t taken a chance and started speaking with them.

So Emma opened her inbox and began to type her answer.

* * *

_ ‘You could’ve at least bloody answered. Ungrateful sister much?’ _ was the text that greeted Regina when she woke up.

_ ‘What?’  _ Regina responded after a second from her lock screen, unsure as to what Zelena could possibly be complaining about. And then it dawned on her and she headed back to their text chat, and the link that led her down the spiral of the search of her pseudonym’s hashtag.

Next thing she knew, Regina’s phone was ringing. Zelena.

She barely finished swiping to answer the phone, and her sister was already berating her.

“Don’t tell me that your ego has gotten to you so badly that you’re already forgetting your poor sister?” Zelena mocked.

Regina rolled her eyes, knowing Zelena couldn’t see it. “Good morning to you too. Yes I did see it, thank you for sending me the link.”

“Why couldn’t my fandom be like that? You’d think producing a prime time TV show would garner some more creativity.”

Zelena produced a TV show that involved mystical teenagers. Regina had it on her list to watch, but it would be solely out of her sisterly duty. She didn’t have the heart to tell Zelena she’d never watched past the third episode. It wasn’t from lack of trying, it just didn’t hold her attention. She just checked the Wikipedia pages and the weekly reviews to have an approximate idea of what was happening so she could keep up with Zelena’s tirades.

“Too much sex?” Regina tried.

“Ha!” Zelena sounded very skeptical. “Maybe I should write a book.”

“Please don’t,” Regina countered before she could stop herself. She cringed. Without her morning coffee, Regina didn’t have a filter.

“Well, with that kind of support, I certainly won’t. Anyway, I must ask. Is what mother said true? Do you actually write fanfic?”

“What?! She told you about that?”

“You know mother, sometimes can have very loose lips.”

“Touche.”

It was a conversation Regina would rather not have with her sister. She mentally berated her mother for being so open with sharing. It wasn’t that Regina was ashamed of it by any means. But she knew the kind of stigma that carried. Once upon a time, Regina was sure she’d have been dismissive of fanfics right along with her sister.

But how times had changed.

And so Regina told Zelena about how she wanted to write more. To give a sort of thank you to her fans for their support. To write the stories that would never make it to the actual novel, but that would put a smile on their faces while they read. She left out the part about her issues with her publisher. Zelena never liked them in the first place. “Too straight and white for my taste,” she had correctly claimed.

“So fluff pieces?” Zelena asked.

“Yes. I’m not expecting it to be some kind of praise-worthy literature. Just something that takes my mind off of things.”

“You are something else,” Zelena muttered. “So wait, is that you? The one the girl in the twitter post is writing about?”

“Yes,” Regina answered, sitting back in her bed.

As she thought about it, Regina decided to check if this Emma had responded. She knew Zelena was still talking, but she wasn’t paying too much attention. And then her heart sank. She had never provided any email or contact for the artist to respond to, so what would happen to the ask?

When she visited the Tumblr page, she got her answer. Emma had indeed responded...publicly.

_ ‘Hey! Well, I am torn between being flattered and confused. I mean, if you are TimelessLoveChaser, you are certainly breaking the mysterious protocol by sending me this ask. If this is a joke….then thank you anyway?????’ _

Despite her trepidation at having been responded to publicly, Regina immediately went to respond, not wanting her words to be taken as a sort of joke or prank. Now that that cat was out of the bag, there wasn’t much that Regina could do about it.

“Are you even listening to me??” Zelena asked.

“Sorry, yes, you were saying about how it was sweet that I had caring fans, rather than just horny ones?”

“They’re not horny. Just too focused on who’s shagging who. It’s a bit disturbing, wouldn’t you say?”

Regina hummed. “You’re telling me. I’m constantly bombarded with ship questions. Is she gay, is she straight. Just let me tell my story really.”

Zelena cackled. “Oh yes! Thank you, someone who understands me.”

* * *

Emma woke up with a raging hangover.

“Why do I do this to myself?” she grunted as she heaved herself out of bed, blindly heading to the kitchen to grab herself some water and aspirin, stat.

She bumped into Lacey, who wordlessly held out a glass and pointed to the box on the counter. “Already had mine.”

As she downed her aspirin, she groaned. “We’re getting too old for this.”

“Says you, I feel perfectly fine.” Lacey shook her head a bit as if she was in a shampoo commercial to prove her point, letting her long brown locks fly. She immediately regretted it, wincing and clutching her head. “Okay maybe not so fine.”

Emma let out a snort of laughter and sluggishly headed back to her room to fetch her phone. “They responded!” she gasped from her room.

“Who did?” Lacey asked, dragging herself from the kitchen to shuffle towards Emma’s room.

“Timeless Love Chaser!” Emma responded, walking back towards the hallway to meet Lacey in the middle, ignoring the lingering effects of the hangover due to her excitement.

“Wait, did they send you an ask last night or did I imagine that?”

Emma nodded, looking at the new ask.

“ _ ‘I can see why you would be skeptical, but someone linked me to your art and my curiosity was piqued. If you want proof - my next chapter will be out today. It will be titled “Nowhere left to run”. - TLC’ _ ”

Lacey looked surprised. “You actually think it’s them?”

“Pretty elaborate hoax if not.”

* * *

** _Excerpt from Book One of the Time Chasers_ **

_ Kate knew this had been a bad idea. Heading into Puerto Rico on a whim to chase after Corvus was bad enough, but now she was staring at the face of one of the prettiest women she had ever met. _

_ This regularly wouldn’t have been a problem for Kate, except she was looking quite intimidating with the random candelabra she had grabbed to defend herself when Kate had vaulted into the room from the open window. Plus if Kate had to guess, it seemed like the other woman was about to get married, if the intricate white dress was anything to go by, and Kate didn’t consider herself a homewrecker....much. _

_ The bride was saying something, but unfortunately for Kate, she didn’t speak a lick of Spanish. _

_ “No hablar español!” she said, weary of the piece of brass that was currently looking very close to hammering her in the face. She was sorely wishing she had paid more attention in her high school Spanish classes. If only to avoid death by candelabra. _

_ “¿Quien sos vos?” the woman asked slowly, holding her candelabra tightly. _

_ “Uhm…” she looked back outside. The Corvus agents could still be heard nearby, trying to find her. “Comida!” _

_ The bride looked puzzled. “¿Como?” _

_ “I uhm, bring you comida! Soy….caterer!” she heard the voices coming closer, and ducked behind a column, near a bunch of flowers in a large vase, just as the Corvus agents neared the window into the room. _

_ There were a few gasps, and the bride let out another surprised yell. _

_ “Oh! Perdon señorita. Mucha suerte en tu dia especial.” _

_ The men were clearly flustered to have been caught peeking into the bride’s room that they rushed out without another word, which at least meant that Kate was safe, for now.  _

_ But more immediately, Kate was sure this woman was sorely regretting getting a ground-floor venue. _

_ “Madre de dios. ¿Alguien me puede explicar que esta pasando?” the bride looked very angry indeed. _

_ She hoped Ella was coming soon, that way she could translate and hopefully help Kate avoid getting clobbered over the head. And then she remembered. She had a pair of translating equipment in her pocket. _

_ She fished her jeans pocket for the necklace and earrings, before hastily putting them on. It would allow her to understand what the angry bride was saying at least, and also give her the ability to ‘speak’ Spanish. _

_ “Estoy muy arrepentida de interrumpir tu casamiento, señorita.” Kate heard her voice being translated, and the other woman’s expression grew more and more confused. _

_ “¿Que esta passando?” _

_ “Es una larga historia.” _


	4. Time Travel

** _Excerpt from Chapter 1 of Through Time and Space Fic_ **

_ “Kate, we’ll find her, but you need to rest.” Jag tried to plead with her for the upteenth time, to no avail. _

_ She didn’t even turn around. Kate had her eyes glued on the screen, trying to see if she could find a blip from Corvus’ time machine. “Andy might not have that much time! And I’m fine! Almost healed!” _

_ Dean cocked an eyebrow. “You knew we can see that your dressing still has blood on it right?” _

_ “Are you guys going to help me find her or not?” Kate snarled, whirling around to face the rest of her team. _

_ Laila held her hands up placatingly as she made her way forward. “Of course we will Kate. But we want to make sure it doesn’t kill you. We care for Andy as much as you do-” _

_ Kate scoffed. “I sincerely doubt it.” _

_ “Because you love her,” Laila hazarded. _

_ “Well love is a bit of a strong word…” Kate shuffled a bit, looking away. _

_ Laila made her way forward a bit more and enveloped Kate in a hug. “Nonetheless, you care for her in a romantic sense, and while we’re not that involved, Andy is a part of this team, and no one gets left behind.” _

_ “Or forgotten!” Ella piped up. _

_ Kate groaned dramatically. “We have got to stop with the pop culture references.” _

* * *

It would turn out that Emma’s mysterious anon was actually TimelessLoveChaser, because the next chapter was released later that day and held that same title.

So Emma decided to answer the new ask.

_ ‘Holy shit. It’s actually you. I’m...floored. I mean I barely know what to say! But thank you! I just finished reading the latest chapter, and I’ve already got more ideas.’ _

It didn’t take long for her askbox to flood with questions. Most of them were other users and anons who were stoked for her, and some who wanted TimelessLoveChaser to read their compliments.

But of course, it wouldn’t be fandom if she didn’t have some jealous and disbelieving vitriol spewed her way.

“Just ignore them.” Lacey commented, taking a look at Emma’s askbox. “They’re probably just jealous Rodrea idiots. I mean, I don’t even know why they all decided to flock over to you. I’m sure they have some talented writers over there...how did they even catch wind of this?”

“Fandom word travels fast?” David suggested. David was Emma’s foster brother. He was the one that had encouraged Emma to attend university. Now, working on her post-graduate program, she knew he had been right. He had always been encouraging and supportive of her, even when she came out to him.

They were supposed to be holding their study group at that moment, but their conversation quickly derailed.

“I mean, the amount of times I end up hearing about stuff happening in other fandoms is crazy,” commented the last member of their group. The only one not in grad school, Henry was a bright young kid in his first year of university. As David had signed up for a mentorship program, to help gain experience in teaching, he was in charge of helping young Henry learn the ropes and navigate university.

“Sure, but that’s because you might know someone in another fandom,” Emma said, munching on some chips. “But to actively keep tabs on something you hate is just crazy.”

“I mean, I’d say masochist, but go off I guess,” Lacey countered.

Emma rolled her eyes. “Tomato, tomahto.”

She kept refreshing her askbox, hoping for her favourite writer to respond, but there was nothing. In fact, Emma ended up having to wait for a few days before she got another message.

‘ _ Wow, I was reading the reactions to my appearance, and I have to say I’m puzzled by the angrier ones...first, why would you respond to them? They’re trolls, the don’t deserve the time of day. Secondly, I had no idea that so many were interested in talking to me. - TLC _ ’

Emma ended up making her answer a tad longer than she had originally envisioned.

_ ‘Are you kidding me? You’re one of the most popular writers in the Kandy fandom! Everyone either wants to know you, be you, or aspires to one day write as well as you do. _

_ ‘So of course they want you to see what they think about you. I’m surprised you don’t already know that. Have you read the reviews you’ve gotten? I don’t wanna sound like your cheerleader, but you’ve got a shitton of fans! _

_ ‘As for the trolls….I know, it’s a bit of a double-edged sword. I don’t respond to all of them, I just want to show them that they won’t sway me. _

_ ‘Besides, if they have an issue with what I post, they know where the unfollow button is.’ _

* * *

Regina felt guilty. She saw the hate Emma was getting and responding to, and it upset her to think that she was in some way, responsible for it. Both as the fanfic writer and the author.

She saw some people also saying that Emma was showing off, responding to asks from the most popular writer as if she was trying to rub it in everyone’s faces that TimelessLoveChaser somehow knew her.

“Should I make an account?” she asked, turning to her sister. She was sitting on the kitchen island, phone in hand, scrolling through Emma’s tumblr.

Without a glance, Zelena snorted. “For what? Stalking your favourite artist some more?”

Even though she knew her sister couldn’t see her, Regina still made a face at Zelena. “I just want to talk to her some more, but I don’t want people to keep spewing vitriol towards her. It hardly seems fair.”

Her sister turned around and took a deep sigh. “Not how I was planning on spending my vacation, sis.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m on vacation! I don’t want to use my long-forgotten psychology degree and have to think and give advice.”

Regina was quick to ripost, “Heaven forbid I make the great Zelena Mills think during her downtime. And consider this sisterly advice.”

Zelena sighed. She could never truly say no to her sister, especially considering that she was staying with her. As her show was done until next season, she decided to drop by to visit Regina, and that night, they were going to be hosting Cora, their mother, for dinner. So at that moment, Zelena was trying to be nice and help Regina prepare dinner, not wanting to dish out advice.

“Oh fine, you forced my hand. But tell me, why are you so determined to have a connection with this fan? I mean, I still don’t even know how you landed on deciding write fanfics of all things? I know you said you wanted to give back to the fans and all that, but my bullshit-o-meter broke at hearing that. What’s the real reason, sis?”

They barely had time to figure out how they missed hearing the door open and close before Cora Mills herself responded, “Because I recommended she do it.”

Cora Mills had the appearance of someone you didn’t want to cross. She seemed like someone who would never be satisfied with absolutely anything. And yet, that couldn’t be further from the truth. She supported both of her daughters in their endeavours, and was always ready to help with advice.

Zelena turned to her mother. “Oh?”

“Yes. But it’s not my place to tell. Patient-doctor confidentiality and all,” Cora said with a wink, giving Zelena a quick hug before going to sit beside Regina near the kitchen island, hugging her as well.

Regina gave her mother a wry smile. “Oh yes. Didn’t stop you from telling Zelena that I wrote fanfics. But nonetheless, I already explained it to her why I wrote it.”

Zelena nodded. “Yes, to unburden yourself with the stories that would never be in the novel and to give back to the fans. But, as I said two minutes ago: my bullshit-o-meter isn’t buying that. So my question still stands.”

“And why the interest all of a sudden?” Cora asked, reaching forward to pour herself a nice glass of wine.

Without much of a choice, Regina told Cora about Emma. Her mother listened raptly, while Zelena just made certain noises as running commentary, wrapping up dinner preparations.

“I see. It sounds to me like you care about this girl and what she does.”

Regina didn’t try to deny it. Her mother was a fantastic psychiatrist and an even better reader of expressions, it would take a lot of expert trickery to con her into believing a lie. “But nonetheless, my trepidation stems from the fact that I wouldn’t know what to do with an account as this fanfic writer...I’m not particularly interested in listening to everyone else praise me and blabber on about this or that. Besides, it wouldn’t take much for someone to want to write something to me or the like.”

Zelena hummed. “Then just make a random dummy account, tell this girl, and no one else. Considering you already stepped on the ball of making your very public debut-”

“It was an accident!” Regina groaned. “How was I supposed to know that it would be public?”

“Common sense?” Zelena deadpanned. “Anyway, create the dummy account then, you can keep talking to her, without compromising yourself or your persona. I mean, that’s what I do anyway.”

“You troll your fans with fake spoilers, I hardly consider what we do to be equitative,” Regina counters.

“I do no such thing! I just give the people that post fake spoilers a taste of their own medicine. Serves them right.”

* * *

And so, that very night, Regina made a Twitter account under the handle of ‘Kandy_fan’. It was simple and nondescript. She followed Emma and then sent another anonymous message through tumblr.

‘Please don’t post this. I have made an account on twitter: Kandy_fan so we can continue to talk more - TLC’

It didn’t take long for Emma to follow and send her a private message via Twitter.

_ ‘So you finally caved in! Why all the secrecy?’ _

_ ‘Well for starters, I was feeling a bit guilty for giving all those trolls something to throw about. And secondly, that website’s captcha is hell on earth.’ _

‘😂😂😂😂 _ fair enough. and don’t worry about the trolls, they generally find something or other to yell at me for. If I post something, it’s because I’m delusional, if I don’t post anything it’s because I have seen the light and have given up on kandy.’ _

_ ‘ _ 😒 _ jerks. I’m assuming those are the infamous Rodrea fans I’ve heard so much about?’ _

_ ‘I thought you weren’t too internalized in fandom? How do you know about rabid rodrea fans and not about your own popularity??’ _

Regina quickly rushed to rectify that.

_ ‘I don’t...but when a friend sent me your art, I saw the hashtag for my persona, and well...suffice it to say that I got a very quick crash course on the spat between both fandoms.’ _

Thankfully, it seemed like Emma bought the story. And it was partially true.

_ ‘Yeah. They are convinced that Regina Mills is going to make rodrea canon.’ _

Regina bit her lip. She didn’t exactly envision having to talk about herself in the third person.

_ ‘Well, I’m sure that whatever she has planned, it will make sense.’ _

_ ‘Fair, but you’d think that, despite the overwhelming evidence against them, they’d get the hint.’ _

_ ‘Overwhelming evidence?’ _ Regina was curious. She knew some fans analyzed everything she said or did or signed for some clue, but she wanted to know what Emma considered to be the overwhelming evidence towards Kandy becoming canon.

As she waited for Emma’s clearly long response, she looked at the time. It was past 2 am. Her mother had long left, and her sister was surely fast asleep in the guest bedroom. She was sure that if someone had told her even a year ago she would be losing sleep by talking to a fan of her novels and fics 6 years her junior, all the while pretending to be just another fan, she would’ve probably considered them insane.

_ ‘Yeah! I mean, Regina Mills is gay, she’s out and proud, and while being gay doesn’t mean she’s just~ going to write about gay couples, I don’t see her as the type of person to waste her platform by not writing about a wlw couple. Especially since she’s never wasted an opportunity to critique other authors on queerbaiting, like jkr. _

_ ‘Besides, she said last week: “But a lot of fans, the really smart ones, have already figured it out. They know who Andy will choose.” and we know that Andy is the modern Andrea, so why not?’ _

Regina had to admit that it was a sound theory. _ ‘I suppose we’ll see.’ _

_ ‘Sorry for getting all up on my soapbox. It’s just something I’m passionate about.’ _

And Regina just had to ask what she meant, wherein she found out that Emma was studying queer literature in popular media, on her way to a graduate degree, so she had some semblance of an idea as to what exactly she was talking about.

Eventually though, Regina had to admit she was very tired.

_ ‘Talk to you soon?’ _ Regina asked.

‘ _ Definitely. Sorry for my rambling _ 😂 _ , and thanks for listening! _ ’

* * *

** _Excerpt from Book Two of the Time Chasers_ **

_ “Well I am certainly glad that your English has improved greatly, Andrea,” Jag was saying, with a small sincere smile and a nod. _

_ Andrea swatted in his direction. She had finally decided on a name after days of searching, and she was eager to have it become her new name. “I’ve decided to go by Andy now! And it is all thanks to Kate.” _

_ Kate stayed silent, gripping her folded arms just a little bit tighter, trying not to blush. _

_ Dean chuckled at that. “Never figured you for a teacher, Nguyen.” _

_ “I’m not...this was a favor,” Kate tersely responded.  _

_ “Sure, don’t ask the linguist in the team for help,” Ella added, feigning hurt. _

_ Rather than answer, Kate turned to Jag. “Anyway, why did you call us in?” _

_ “Corvus group. I’m sure they’re planning something big. After being quiet for over two months, they’re active once again, and it seems they’ve set their sights on Europe. Renaissance period to be exact.” _

_ “What could they want there?” Dean asked. _

_ Jag pointed to Laila, who took the floor with practised ease. “There’s a lot that they could be planning. This is the birthplace of modernism, of critical thinking and it leads to education for all and so much more. If they’re planning on hindering or stopping the birth of the Renaissance this could have far reaching consequences.” _

_ At that, Jag pointed to the Honda Civic. “Well then, you better get travelling, wouldn’t you say?” _


	5. Meet-Cute

** _Excerpt from Chapter 2 of Through Time and Space Fic_ **

_ Andy had no idea where she was. The room was dark and cold, and her entire body hurt. _

_ In her defense though, the thug that brought her in was in a much worse shape. She bit, scratched, and kicked him everywhere she could. And she wasn’t sorry. _

_ She thought of what was about to happen. What could Corvus possibly want with her? She thought that they weren’t interested in killing her...unless the agent had just said that to get himself out of that situation. But if that was true, why keep her alive and locked up? _

_ It was too cumbersome to think of the possibilities. Of never seeing her friends again. _

_ And Kate. _

_ Andy sighed. She knew that she should be thinking of Rodrigo, the man she had been about to marry. But after meeting Kate, she couldn’t see herself with anyone else. She loved everything about her, how she tried to be cool but never actually succeeded, her ability to make anyone feel better, how patient she was, trying to teach her English, and how adorably frustrated she looked as she tried to speak Spanish. _

_ The cell door opened, and one of the Corvus agent appeared. “You’re coming with me.” _

_ “Oh am I?” Andy spat. “You can ask your buddy what happened the last time anyone tried to make me go anywhere.” _

_ The agent growled, but then another voice said, “Now now, is that any way to treat your host?” _

_ The agent stepped aside to allow another man to walk in. He was familiar, in a way, but Andy had no idea how. “Not exactly winning any prizes in hospitality are you?” _

_ The man shrugged. “Perhaps not. I don’t believe I introduced myself. Antonio.” _

_ “I do not particularly care for your name, nor am I giving you mine.” Andy crossed her arms and glared at the man. _

_ Antonio didn’t seem to be fazed. “I know who you are, Andrea Corrientes. The woman out of time. And I fully intend on taking you back to your time to get married.” _

_ “And why do you care if I get married?” Andy hissed. “All that Corvus cares about is world domination.” _

_ “Is that what they told you?” Antonio tutted. “Unsurprising. Do you want to know the truth? I am trying to make the world a better place. To right historical wrongs that gave rise to everything bad in today’s world. They are the real bad people in this situation. They care more about history’s integrity, even if it stops the world from changing, for the better.” _

_ “I don’t believe you.” _

_ “No? Very well, allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is Antonio Mendoza. I am your great-grandson.” _

* * *

Emma spent the next month talking to TLC almost every single day. They weren’t particularly long conversations, but they were varied, if a bit limited in subject. They talked about fandom, about TLC’s fics, Emma’s art, and lately, Emma had been opening up about her life.

Of course, the fic author was still as mysterious as the first day. The only thing Emma knew was that TLC was a woman, and also queer.

One day though, Emma was more than a little bit tipsy, and felt emboldened to ask the other woman for a picture.

_ ‘A picture? How bold of you.’ _

Emma grabbed a selfie from her camera roll and sent it.  _ ‘here’s me, now its your turn.’ _

_ ‘I know what you look like, dear. I’ve seen your picture from some of your twitter posts.’ _

“Shit.” Emma fumbled around for another idea, if a bit scatterbrained by being called ‘dear. The other woman had a tendency to call Emma that and it made her heart soar for inexplicable reasons - or rather, she knew but didn’t exactly want to face them yet.  _ ‘if its fair for one its fair for all?  _ 😂’

_ ‘I admit, that made me laugh. Very well.’ _

A few minutes later, and Emma was treated to a picture of Regina Mills herself. Emma blinked and rolled her eyes. Of course TLC would give her a fake picture.

_ ‘oh very funny. come ooooon, why do u want this whole mystery anyway? do you have something to hide?’ _

_ ‘Perhaps I do. I could be a deranged person. Or, like the picture indicates, a world-famous author.’ _

Emma chortled at that.  _ ‘Right, who spends her time moonlighting as her own fandoms fic writer, brilliant plan’ _

_ ‘It’s foolproof. No one would ever suspect it.’ _

It was a bit hard for Emma to think of a witty response. Considering she was somewhat drunk and she wasn’t a wordsmith by any stretch of the imagination - and Emma’s sense of grammar and punctuation left the building after the first sip of alcohol - she stayed silent. So much so that her conversational partner sent another message.

_ ‘Have I now opened your mind to the conspiracy theory that’s plaguing the fandom as well?’ _

_ ‘nah, just not sure what to say. im a bit drunk.’ _

_ ‘It’s a weekday! I know you’re young and in university, but that will come back to bite you in the morning.’ _

_ ‘i knoooow yeesh. dont you know how to have fun? what are you 60?’ _

_ ‘I am 30, thank you very much, and forgive me for being responsible and worried about your health and well-being.’ _

Emma was only half sure the other woman was joking, but she still felt the need to send a quick  _ ‘sorry’. _

_ ‘It’s alright.’ _

_ ‘and it’s not like i went to drink. my friend owns a bar called the rabbit hole and we just kinda wound up drinking.’ _

_ ‘Must be a busy place, a bar on campus.’  _

_ ‘its actually not at all. we love it because its quiet. good vibes and a really chill place. theres another bar that’s actually the busy one, this is more of a hangout.’ _

_ ‘I see. Must be an interesting place to visit.’ _

Emma was sure she was boring her conversational partner, so she changed tack.

_ ‘oh btw you once mentioned massachusets weather, any chance you live near boston?’ _

_ ‘Why do you ask?’  _ Of course, she didn’t actually confirm it, Emma thought with a slight scoff.

_ ‘because theres a big convention next weekend, a bunch of us kandy fans are meeting up after, wanna join?’ _

_ ‘Alas I have to decline, I’m a bit busy that weekend.’ _

And Emma left it at that. She bade the other woman goodnight and wondered if she’d ever meet her friend. Of course, if she had been a bit more attentive to the picture she was sent, she would have realized that the picture of Regina Mills looked too casual to have been part of a photoshoot, or a picture randomly found on the internet, and would’ve come to the conclusion that she had been talking to Regina Mills herself.

* * *

“You should tell her,” Zelena was saying. They were on a Facetime call, wherein Regina had just explained her latest brush with a reveal of her secret identity. “Also, I can’t believe you sent her a picture and she didn’t believe you.”

Regina rolled her eyes as Zelena collapsed into a fit of laughter. Once she caught her breath, Zelena added, “I can just imagine her face once she finds out.”

“She won’t find out,” Regina countered.

That sobered her sister up. “What, why? I thought you wanted her to know, hence the picture.”

“The picture was a spur of the moment thing. It’s clear that she would never believe me, and maybe it’s for the best.”

“Because Regina Mills doesn’t believe in love?”

“I believe in love!” Regina spluttered.

“Right, but you haven’t gone on any dates since your first book published. Coincidence? I think not.”

Regina scoffed. “I’ve been busy.”

“Or are you afraid that someone might use you? Are you afraid that Emma might not see you the same way?”

“I thought I was talking to my sister, not a shrink.”

“Package deal sis. Admit it, you have a thing for this little artist.”

“Maybe,” Regina muttered. “And what if I do? It’s not like it’s going to go anywhere.”

“So you say. But you might be surprised.”

“I am not meeting Emma, and certainly not the rest of the band of fans. That is a disaster waiting to happen.”

“I’m not saying that, but maybe meeting her wouldn’t be so bad?”

* * *

By the time that the weekend rolled around, Emma was super nervous. She had someone managed to snag a last-minute signing opportunity with Regina Mills, and there she was, trying to figure out which of her art she should print to get Regina to sign. While everyone else wanted their books signed, Emma wanted something different.

Apart from the fact that Emma’s book copy was digital and therefore couldn’t be signed, she felt that a drawing would have more meaning, and be more impressive. And for some reason, Emma wanted to impress Regina Mills.

“You mean show off,” Lacey corrected.

Emma scoffed. “I’m not! I just want to show her how much her books mean to me, and I want to do it through my art. And again, don’t have a physical book.”

“Excuses excuses.”

While Emma would surely have had plenty to add, her phone had just notified her that she had a new message.

“Let me guess, TLC has messaged you?” Lacey deadpanned.

Emma grinned at her roommate. “How did you guess?”

“Because you light up like your crush just texted you. Oh, wait…”

Emma smacked Lacey’s shoulder playfully. “Shut up, I do not have a crush on her.”

Lacey raised her eyebrows. “You’re doing a fine job convincing me of just the opposite.”

Emma threw her hands up. “How can I fall for someone I’ve never seen or verbally spoken to?”

“But you like the way she writes, how she ‘talks’ to you, and you’d love to get to know her more.”

With that, Emma had to agree. “Okay, fair, but you can’t say it’s my fault. The woman’s built like Fort Knox. She doesn’t reveal anything about herself, which is worrying in itself. I mean, what could she possibly be hiding?”

“Who knows,” Lacey said with a shrug. “Maybe she does this as a secret? Doesn’t want anyone from her real-life finding out?”

“But I’m a total stranger, why would she want to keep it a secret from me?”

“You don’t know that for sure. For all we know, maybe the two of you share a friend. Or maybe she holds a respectable position in society, like she’s a mayor somewhere, and it’d be pretty damaging to be discovered writing fics of two fictional characters.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “I could think of worse things to be accused of.”

“Sure, but for some people, it’s the fear of social stigma. What others will think, how they’ll be judged. I’ve had many a fandom friend who adamantly refuse to post pictures of themselves online for that very reason.”

“True. But I think it’s something different.” 

“You’ve been reading too many dramatic fics. I’m gonna finish getting ready, and you have a text from your mysterious friend,” Lacey said with a pointed look at Emma’s phone.

Emma left it at that, and went to check out the new text from said mysterious friend.

_ ‘Sorry I have been relatively silent, I’ve had a lot on my plate this week.’ _

_ ‘No prob. I’ve been busy too, getting ready for the con. What’s been keeping you?’ _

Emma wasn’t even sure that she’d get a straight answer, and as she expected, it was vague.

_ ‘Just planning for some things. And how goes the convention preparation for you?’ _

_ ‘Pretty great! I actually managed to snag a signing session with Regina Mills, so I’m actually going to meet her!’ _

The three ellipses were making Emma anxious. TLC was taking an awfully long time to respond.

Eventually, she got:  _ ‘Great! Are you nervous?’ _

Emma decided to ignore the fact that those four words shouldn’t have taken the 6 minutes it did.  _ ‘Yeah. As hell. My friend Lacey is actually teasing me because I’m going to be asking her to be signing one of my art pieces rather than a book.’ _

_ ‘Oh? I’m sure she gets plenty of pec _ uliar things to sign, so a piece of art would be pretty standard.’

‘😋  _ I know, but she thinks I’m trying to show off for her.’ _

_ ‘Are you?’ _

_ ‘No! I just want to show her that she inspired me with her books. She got me to like reading again, and it’s been such a big inspiration for me artistically. I mean, I would never have been able to make so much art with any other books. Plus she’s impressive, being a queer icon that has been on the New York Bestsellers.’ _

_ Again the ellipses. Emma really didn’t want to think about it too much, especially after the conversation she just had with Lacey. _

_ ‘I have no doubt that she will be very moved hearing your story, and she would love to sign it.’ _

Emma was grinning widely at that. For some reason, she believed TLC.

* * *

“You’re actually going to meet her?” Zelena was asking. They were in their town car, heading to the convention hall, driven by Zelena’s bodyguard, Walsh. Regina’s own guard, a stoic woman by the name of Mulan, was sitting in the seat beside him.

“Yes, I’m actually kind of nervous myself.” Regina kept on fiddling with the hem of her blazer. She decided to go elegantly but not too formal, and settled on a silk blouse with a blazer and a skirt.

Zelena herself had opted for a much more risque green dress that was more suited for a cocktail party than a fan convention. “That explains why you took so long, you’re actually going to make us late! Poor Walsh must be beside himself.”

“We’re actually ahead of schedule, Ms. Mills,” Walsh responded from the front, glancing at the sisters from the rearview mirror.

Zelena groaned. “Back me up here, Walsh.”

“Sorry Ms. Mills. Yes, we’re going to be very late.”

Regina snickered. “I have no doubt.”

“Anyway, back to this Emma. Are you going to tell her?” Zelena readjusted herself to better look at her sister.

“Of course not,” Regina countered. “What am I going to do, tell her from the middle of the convention floor that I am actually the fanfic author she’s been talking to for the past month?”

“Sure,” Zelena said with a grin that meant she wasn’t serious at all. “It’d be risque and so very juicy. Can you imagine all of the press you’d get? ‘Famous author spends free time writing fan stories for own book!’, more at 11.”

Regina gave her sister a slap on her arm. “Which is why I won’t say anything. It’s better that way.”

And Regina truly believed that. As she set herself up and started meeting people, she was sure that meeting Emma would be a breeze.

It most definitely wasn’t.

When Regina looked up after signing someone’s book, she saw Emma herself. She tried to control her expression and hoped her surprise wasn’t noticeable, what with the cacophony of noises and people moving all around.

“Hello, got something for me to sign?” Regina asked, seeing that Emma looked a little dumbfounded.

Someone behind her, Regina was ready to guess that that was Lacey, nudged Emma forward.

“Uhm, yeah, yeah, hi, I’m Swan. I mean, my name is Emma and I’ve got something for you. I mean, I also have some art for you to sign.” Emma fumbled with her bag, trying to get her art piece out.

Regina smiled softly. “It’s alright, you don’t have to be nervous. Come and show me what you’ve got there.”

Emma pulled out a decently sized poster of one of her artworks. Regina hadn’t actually known what art Emma would be bringing, even less so whether it would have Kandy on it.

It was an artwork of the entire Time Chasers crew, standing like they were action heroes in a big blockbuster movie, arms crossed, looking like they were ready for business.

Regina was speechless for a moment. She had seen the poster before in Emma’s twitter, but it was something else seeing it printed. “Wow. This is...impressive. I love the colours, and it looks like a real poster!”

It seemed like Emma was nervous to hear what Regina thought, because her shoulders instantly relaxed a bit, and she smiled. “Yeah, I tried my best to make it look realistic.”

“And you did a very good job of it! Where would you like for me to sign it?”

Emma shook her head. “That one is for you. I made two copies. The other one is the one I’d like you to sign.

From her bag, Emma pulled out another identical poster, and gave it to Regina. 

To say that this was a nice surprise for Regina was an understatement. “Thank you, I’ll go get a frame for it as soon as I get home. Now, do you want me to make this out for you?”

Emma nodded, still a bit dumbstruck and floored.

Regina wanted to write something meaningful to Emma, and she settled with:

_ To Emma _

_ Thank you so much for the beautiful and creative artwork. Please always keep drawing, you have an incredible talent. _

_ Much Love _

_ Regina Mills _

Regina was sure that Emma’s eyes were watering up, and the latter gave her a watery smile before she said a shaky good-bye and left.

“Sorry about my friend,” the next girl in line said, giving her a book. “She just really looks up to you.”

“I can see that,” Regina said with a smile. “Who do I make this out to?”

“Lacey,” the girl said, confirming Regina’s earlier suspicion.

“Well Lacey, you can tell your friend Emma that with that talent, I’m equally looking up to her.”

Lacey looked giddy with that info, and said “I’ll be sure to pass along the message. Thank you!”

* * *

_ ‘Aaghhhhhh I can’t believe I made a total fool of myself meeting Regina Mills’ _ Emma wrote to TLC as soon as she managed to sit down.

She didn’t get a response, and maybe it was for the best, she felt really emotional and dumb at that moment. She hadn’t even gotten to tell Regina what a great inspiration she was for Emma, getting her to enjoy reading again and sparking her imagination.

“Why do I have to have the absolute worst luck when meeting famous people?” Emma complained to Lacey, seeing her friend approach.

“I think it went fine! From what she told me, she seemed to be pretty impressed with you,” Lacey said, sitting down beside her.

Emma scoffed. “She probably only said that to be nice.”

“She has no real reason to tell me that. You impressed her, take the win Emma,” Lacey said, giving her friend a sideways hug. “Now, let’s see what else we can see today huh? And then we have the meet-up, remember? Afterwards, we can head to the Rabbit Hole for some drinks. Ruby’s treat.”

“Let me guess,” Emma deadpanned. “She saw how cringeworthy my performance all the way from campus was that she offered?”

Lacey chuckled. “No, but she figured we’d be tired, and she wants to hear our adventures.”

Emma made a face. “I’ll probably skip. I want to wallow in my misery alone.”

“Oh come on. Just come for an hour. If you don’t want to stick around, you can leave, deal?”

“Fine. Now let’s go check out that booth, and get my mind off of that meeting.”

* * *

** _Excerpt from Book Two of the Time Chasers_ **

_ “Is she always this good at seducing women?” Andy asked, watching with Laila as Kate worked the palace maid. _

_ Laila hummed. “Oh, you know it. She can get any women to fall for her. We think she has a secret power or something. Because believe me, I have studied many people throughout history, people I would have put money down as being completely straight, and she can make them want her without too much trouble.” _

_ Andy bit her lip. “But...wouldn’t that change history?” _

_ “I don’t believe so. She gives them a taste really. The past has always been extremely homophobic, so these are people who are curious, but would never risk the social stigma of living out their queer fantasies,” Laila explained. “It’s just great for us that Kate is that good.” _

_ “Yes...so you are a historian?” Andy decided to change topics, it was nauseating her to continue thinking about this. _

_ “Yes.” _

_ “Then...the history field learns to accept women more by your time?” Andy asked. “I mean, all I can aspire to do in my time is to be a secretary to a historian. Well, once I marry I will be at home.” _

_ Laila frowned. “You can’t tell me you actually want that life?” _

_ Andy sighed. “And what am I supposed to do? Yes, I am here now for the adventure - a last adventure before I become a wife and mother. But I can’t not go back, it would change history, that’s what everyone says.” _

_ “Well, not necessarily.” When Andy looked confused, Laila added, “There are people that history does not care about. It’s not a great concept to think about, but in your case, it means that whether or not you return to Puerto Rico probably just means your children with Rodrigo wouldn’t be born, and you’d never see your family again…” _

_ “You know my future?” Andy asked, curiosity piqued. “I will have children?” _

_ Laila shook her head. “No, I don’t know your future. But it’s an easy enough guess. The way you talk about your future means that there’s very little doubt that you would go and have children after marrying. So, if you don’t go back, you won’t have the children you presumably have. Does that make sense?” _

_ Andy nodded. “It does.” _

_ She turned her head at that moment to see Kate touch the other girl’s arm with too much familiarity, and she hoped this mission would be done soon. _


	6. Soulmates

** _Excerpt from Chapter 3 of Through Time and Space Fic_ **

_ “We think we have a lock on her,” Dean said, pulling Kate away from her daze. _

_ She had just been reliving the nightmare of Corvus taking Andy. “Where is she?” _

_ “Well, the Corvus time machine is in the Wild West. Not too sure what they could possibly want there. Laila says that the time isn’t too decisive for any truly monumental historical moments.” _

_ “Hasn’t stopped Corvus,” Kate countered. And it was true. Most of the time, they couldn’t figure out what Corvus was up to. It was all disconnected. But he had to have a larger plan at play. _

_ To their surprise, their arrival was not unexpected. A contingent of Corvus agents were waiting for them as soon as the car landed. _

_ One agent approached the window from the driver’s side. “You are all cordially invited to meet with Antonio Mendoza.” _

_ Ella leaned forward from the back seat and asked, “Who is Antonio Mendoza?” _

_ “He is the Corvus leader, and he is interested in meeting with you.” _

_ While Kate would love to grab her gun and shoot this guy, she didn’t give in to her impulses. She needed more information, and while they had Andy with them, she wouldn’t risk angering anyone from Corvus. Andy was more important. “Is Andy with him?” _

_ “Yes, Andrea is with Antonio. Now, please follow me.” _

_ The group of four figured they would go along for now, and hopefully, the opportunity to rescue Andy would present itself. _

_ They were led to a saloon, empty save for more Corvus agents, and a man sitting with Andy. He was older, middle-aged at best, with his thick black hair slicked back as if he was trying to do a very thorough impersonation of Antonio Banderas at the height of his career. _

_ Andy’s face betrayed nothing, while Kate couldn’t hide the smile from her face. But before she could say anything, someone cleared their throat. _

_ “Welcome, welcome,” the man said, standing up and beckoning them closer. “Please, sit down.” _

_ “Why are we here?” Kate asked, fists clenched. No one in the group had moved, and they were wondering what exactly Corvus’ plan was. _

_ “I figured we could talk and get to know each other a bit more. Besides, I don’t think we properly introduced ourselves.” _

_ “Yeah, Antonio Mendoza, your lackey told us,” Ella said, gesturing to the agent who had led them to the saloon. _

_ Antonio sighed. “It’s so hard finding good help these days. I had really hoped for the element of surprise. Now, please, sit down with me, I’m sure we can work something out where everyone is happy, and we can do this in relative comfort.” _

_ Begrudgingly, the group agreed and sat down on stools around the large round table. Kate sat down beside Andy, and hoped she’d be able to share some look with her, maybe see if Andy would send a signal to be careful, but she said nothing, nor looked any of them in the eye. _

* * *

The Kandy fandom meet went great, but it was exhausting having to talk with everyone. Not to mention that all that anyone wanted to talk with Emma about was TLC. Had she spoken with her after that last ask? Did Emma know who TLC actually was?

The questions had been endless. By the time that Emma and Lacey had made it to the Rabbit Hole, they were both very tired and ready to unwind. 

They headed in and made a beeline for the counter where Ruby was drying some mugs.

The duo practically collapsed onto their stools.

“Tiring day?” Ruby asked, grinning at them.

“Very,” Lacey said. “Now give us some drinks.”

Ruby nodded. “Right away.”

Once Ruby had prepared them their drinks, she leaned forward to whisper, “Don’t turn around now but...anyone know who those two are back there? They came in a bit before you guys, and they’ve been talking the entire time. But I don’t think they’re here on a date. If anything I think that it’s someone famous and her bodyguard, but I can’t place her for the life of me, and I’m pretty good with faces.”

Emma and Lacey turned around immediately to take a look at who Ruby was talking about, and both their jaws dropped comically.

Lacey turned around first. “That’s Regina Mills!,” she hissed.

“That author you guys keep going on about? How did she even find this place?” Ruby was puzzled to say the least.

Emma was so gobsmacked she didn’t even snap out of it until Lacey waved her hand in front of Emma’s face.

“You okay there?” Lacey asked.

“Yeah. Just what are the chances?” Emma asked.

Ruby leaned forward. “You should ask her.”

Emma whipped around to face her friend. “ _ What? _ ” she asked in a harsh whisper.

“You heard me. Go up to her and ask her.”

“You do know that she is the very reason why I need a drink? The last time I saw her, I made an idiot of myself.”

Lacey rolled her eyes. “You’re such a drama queen. She enjoyed it, and you should go talk to her before she sees the three of us looking at her like she’s an entire circus.”

Emma groaned. “Fine. But if I make an ass out of myself, I’m blaming you guys.”

“You do that. I am going back to our place with this drink and unwinding there. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

Ruby snickered. “You mean, please do what you wouldn’t do. You’re not exactly wild and rowdy you know.”

Without any other option but to listen to her friends bicker, Emma walked up to the two women. She saw that Regina Mills was still wearing the same clothes from before, and while she looked more tired, she still had a vibrant and friendly air about her as she spoke to the woman with her.

“Hey,” Emma said. Her voice squeaked a bit, so she cleared her throat, hoping it had gone by unnoticed.

Regina and the other woman looked up, and Emma smiled sheepishly and waved.

It was then that Emma realized that the author was probably looking to be alone and not accosted by fans. But she would look like an idiot if she just turned around without saying anything.

“Can I help you?” the other woman asked, standing up from her chair and squinting at Emma as if gaging why she was there and what her threat level was.

Emma was about to say something, feeling very intimidated at that moment, when Regina interjected, “It’s okay Mulan, I met her earlier. She’s the one I was talking to you about, the artist.”

Mulan nodded slowly, realization dawning on her. “Cool artwork,” she said with a smile, sitting back down.

“I- Thank you.” Emma wasn’t sure what was making her head spin more. The fact that Regina freaking Mills remembered her, or the fact that she not only told other people about her but also showed her artwork to them.

“Is everything alright? You wanted to talk to me?” Regina asked, her brows furrowed in worry.

“Uh yeah. Sorry to bother you first of all,” Emma began, hoping she was being polite enough.

“No problem at all,” Regina responded with a disarming smile.

“So, my friend, she owns the bar, and she was just wondering how you guys came to be here.” Emma could have mentally facepalmed. Coherence was not her strong suit sometimes. “I mean, this isn’t exactly on Boston’s top 20 places to visit for a drink, so we were just curious.”

Regina nodded. “A friend mentioned it to me, said it was a nice quiet place. And after how busy today was, I figured I needed to unwind. Plus it’s close to our hotel, and a quiet venue where we can pass the time unperturbed is always a good thing.”

Emma nodded, unsure how to respond. She was about to just say ‘Goodbye’ when two things happened.

Mulan stood up suddenly and announced, “I’m gonna get a drink,” and left without another word. At that, Regina asked, “Would you like to sit down?”

While Emma was certain that she would make a complete fool of herself at this rate if she stayed any longer, she found herself sitting down beside Regina Mills.

“Hi,” Emma greeted shyly.

“Hey.” Regina seemed pensive for a bit before she said, “How was the rest of your day at the convention? Interesting?”

“Yeah,” Emma said with a smile. She opened her mouth to say more, but then figured that maybe Regina didn’t want to hear it. Especially not about the Kandy meetup.

Not that Regina was faring much better. She wasn’t sure what to ask without sounding intrusive or demanding. Or too familiar.

The silence was getting awkward and unbearable. Emma glanced at the bar and saw that Ruby and Mulan were chatting it up. Well, at the very least, Ruby was giving her the real-life equivalent of heart-eyes. Lacey had left by now, and Emma figured she could head home too.

“Well, it was nice to meet you again,” Emma said, standing up.

Regina looked confused and...crestfallen? No, Emma was sure she was imagining things. “You’re leaving already?”

“Yeah, I figure that, if you want to unwind and spend the evening in peace, the last thing you want is a random fan bothering you.”

Regina shook her head. “You don’t bother me, and I don’t see you as a random fan.”

But Emma wasn’t convinced. “It’s not like we’re having the most enticing of conversations. I can’t help but feel that you’re just being polite.”

“I have no reason to force myself to be polite. I legitimately want to talk to you, Emma. Please don’t leave.”

“You...remembered my name?” Emma asked, sitting back down. It might sound silly, but Emma was sure her name wasn’t exactly memorable.

“Of course.” Regina took a deep breath, and added, “And by the way, you didn’t make a fool of yourself earlier.”

Emma did a double take. “What? When did I say that?”

“In your message to me.”

Emma wasn’t sure if Regina had her confused with someone else, or if she had completely lost it. “What message? I never sent you any message.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah-”

And then the penny dropped.

And just like that, Emma felt her cheeks redden like a tomato, and her shame skyrocketed. She looked at Regina, panic-stricken.

“Please don’t panic,” Regina said, holding her hands out placatingly, almost as if she wanted to touch Emma’s arm, but wasn’t sure if she should.

“Don’t panic!?” Emma repeated in a very panicked hiss. “You’re actually telling me that you, the freaking author of the Time Chasers, are actually also TimelessLoveChaser, the fanfic author?”

“Yes.”

Emma wondered for a wild moment if she had somehow come in contact with a hallucinogen, because there was no way this was real. And she voiced as much, but in less words, because her mind was having a hard time coming up with any.

“I don’t believe you.” Even though there was no other way for Regina freaking Mills to know about TLC or the fact that they were exchanging messages.

“Fair enough, I wouldn’t believe me either.” Regina took out her phone, and after pressing a few icons on her screen, came across the screen she wanted, and turned it to face Emma.

It was the private conversation Emma was having with TLC on twitter. She looked back up at Regina. “Holy shit. So when you sent me that picture-”

Regina nodded, smirking ever so slightly. “You really didn’t realize that it wasn’t exactly a photoshoot image that I had grabbed from the internet?”

Emma shook her head. “No. Besides, you’re insanely gorgeous so-” Emma clapped both of her hands over her mouth at that, eyes wide.

Regina let out a small chuckle and finally put a comforting hand on Emma’s arm. “It’s okay, I appreciate the compliment.”

While well-intentioned, the physical contact with Regina wasn’t helping Emma’s skyrocketing crush for the author.

Emma slowly removed her hands from in front of her face. “I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t be, it’s fine,” Regina said with a smile.

“I can’t believe you’re here, and you’re...well, you!”

“The one and only. You’re actually taking this surprisingly better than I had expected.”

Emma laughed. “Probably the shock, once I get over that I’ll probably freak out completely.”

“Please don’t,” Regina said, rolling her eyes jokingly.

“I’ll try. I do have to ask you something…”

And that was it. Regina was sure she was going to get asked about shipping or about whether she planned on making Kandy canon or-

“What made you decide to write fics in the first place? I mean, it’s your novels, right? Couldn’t you just write what you wanted in your own novels?”

Regina let out a breath, hoping her surprise at being asked a completely different question didn’t show.

It had, because Emma quickly added, “If you want to. If you don’t, that’s totally fine, I was just curious.”

“It’s fine, I don’t mind answering that,” Regina began, “I actually write things that couldn’t possibly show up in the novel. As you have read from my stories, they don’t exactly match up with the novel’s world. In my fics I talk about movie nights, and there are things that turn out differently than in my novels. An alternate universe if you will.”

Emma nodded. “That makes sense. I never would’ve guessed you’d be behind the account. But it’s a pleasant surprise.”

“Which one? The fact that I decide to write fanfics in my spare time, or that they’re about Kandy.”

“Both?” Emma said with a bashful smile.

Regina coyly responded, “I can appreciate a good fan ship and see the dynamics the fans see.”

They quickly went into a lengthy conversation about Regina’s latest fic, and Through Time and Space. Hours went by, and it’s not until Ruby came up to them, with a very smug Mulan beside her, that they realized that the bar was completely empty. “Are you two planning on moving in to the bar? Do you need me to get a cot?”

Emma and Regina at least had the sense to apologize profusely.

“We lost track of time,” Regina explained. She then turned to Emma, who was getting up at that moment. “We’ll continue our talk tomorrow?”

Emma grinned widely and nodded. “Of course. It was really nice to meet you Regina.”

“Likewise Emma.”

After Emma left, Regina and Mulan also take their leave, making sure to pay Ruby for their bill, and for her trouble, a nice tip.

While Mulan drove them back, Regina sent Emma a text.

_ ‘It was wonderful to meet you. I loved getting to talk to you, even if I was super nervous to tell you who I really was. I’m glad you took it in stride. Thank you  _ 😊’

Emma’s response was almost immediate.

‘ _ Your secret is safe with me  _ 😉 _ . Have a good night Regina.’ _

_ ‘You as well, Emma’ _ It felt surprisingly relieving to have Emma know the truth, and she smiled to herself.

Then Emma sent another message, and Regina felt her own face flush as her heart skipped a beat.

‘💋💕’

* * *

Emma felt like a complete idiot. Things went just fine, and then Emma had to go and bungle it up. She wished she could delete the message, but the blue checkmark was there, Regina had seen it.

So, the next morning, she decided her best option was to pretend like nothing happened.

_ ‘Hey, so I was wondering...what if we did Through Time and Space like a collab?’ _

_ ‘Like a what?’  _ Regina was clearly still learning the fandom lingo, and it made Emma smile like an idiot at that.

_ ‘A collaboration. You keep writing your fic, and I make art to go along with it and you can add it to the fic as illustrations.’ _

Emma bit her lip at the little ellipses, but let out a relieved smile when she read, ‘ _ That sounds absolutely wonderful! I would love it. But please don’t overwork yourself, whatever inspires you is perfectly fine.’ _

_ ‘Well everything you do inspires me.’ _ Emma wished her brain would function as intended at least once in her life. She quickly added,  _ ‘I mean, your writing is so good, I’m sure I’ll find plenty to draw  _ 😂’

_ ‘Then it’s a deal. I will start adding your art to the released chapters then!’ _

_ ‘Yay! Also, I was wondering if I could ask you something.’ _

_ ‘Yes?’ _ Of course Regina’s answer didn’t help Emma’s nerves. She wasn’t sure if Regina would be so open to the idea, but she had to ask.

_ ‘So, you know my friend Lacey? You met her yesterday.  _

_ ‘I was wondering if maybe I could tell her about you? _

_ ‘I know her, she’s trustworthy and she’s basically been my guide into fandom life, and she’s been following along on our convo for the longest time...and it’d be pretty weird if I all of a sudden was all nonchalant about this.’ _

The ellipses again. Emma was sure one day she would find a way to punt kick whoever thought adding those ellipses were a good and totally not anxiety inducing idea.

_ ‘If you trust her, then I do too. As long as you keep this between the two of you. I’m not sure I’d like that information being out in the world. But now it’s my turn to ask you something.’ _

That took Emma by surprise. _ ‘Okay, shoot.’ _

_ ‘Every time you say you want to ask me something, I always think you’re going to ask me one specific thing, and every time I’m surprised you don’t. So my question to you is: Why haven’t you tried asking me about whether or not I’ll make Kandy canon?’ _

‘🤷♀️ _ I mean, am I curious, sure. But I’d rather find out by reading you know? It’s like reading the last page in a book first. It takes out all the mystery. It doesn’t have to be canon right now. In my eyes, it is, and I’d much rather see the build-up. Besides, even if you don’t make it canon, I know you’re writing about them, so I can imagine how it’d be if they were.’ _

_ ‘That’s incredibly flattering, and very kind of you.’ _

‘🤗’

“Okay, you’ve been grinning at your phone for the past ten minutes, and you still haven’t said a word about how your meeting with Regina Mills went last night,” Lacey said, plopping down on Emma’s bed where the latter was sitting.

Emma put her phone down and took a deep breath, before she began explaining what had happened.

By the end of it, Lacey’s mouth was hanging open and she was sitting bolt upright. “Are you shitting me?!”

“I swear I’m not,” Emma responded with a laugh, showing her her phone with her conversation. She also scrolled back up to the picture, and Lacey promptly scoffed at Emma.

“You are a freaking idiot for not realizing it earlier, I will say that.” Lacey scolded, lying back down. “Wow, you and Regina Mills are friends, and are going to be collaborating together! I can’t wait.”

* * *

Regina and Emma had worked out the logistics over the next week for how they were going to announce their collaboration. Well, how Emma was going to announce it. Regina was still skeptical about having a social media presence.

_ ‘Why all the mystery? I mean, I get not wanting to admit you’re Regina Mills, but you are allowed to be a fan and have a fan account.’ _

_ ‘Yes, but I don’t exactly want to interact with fandom. I don’t want to run the risk of accidentally coming across a plot idea or something.’ _

_ ‘Awww, so I’m special!  _ 😊’

_ ‘You certainly are  _ 😘’

Emma felt her heart jump to her throat, but she just shook her head. Regina was just an overly affectionate person, surely. Or maybe it was like Emma’s heart and lips emoji, and it meant something more…

She shook her head. She was putting too much thought into one emoji.

_ ‘So, we’re doing this?’ _

_ ‘Yes, post away.’ _

And so Emma got the artwork she had been working on. It was a cover for Through Time and Space, and she wrote: 

_ Have I got some great news for #Kandy fans! _

_ #TimelessLoveChaser and I are going to be collaborating on Through Time and Space. They’ll write the fic, and I’ll illustrate! 🍬🍬🍬 _

Suffice it to say that the fandom went absolutely nuts. 

So much so, that they somehow made #TimeChasers trend.

And it caught a lot of attention.

Including of one certain Leopold Blanchard.

* * *

** _Excerpt from Book Three of the Time Chasers_ **

_ Antonio considered himself a man of patience. He had a perfect and foolproof plan that he had worked on for over a year. _

_ Time travel was a tricky mess. Change one thing, and the entire continuum falls apart. _

_ Like finding out his great-grandmother got swept away from her time by a bunch of time travellers, never returned, and he would eventually cease to exist. _

_ Simple, annoying, and so very easy to resolve. All he had to do was convince her to go back to his great-grandfather. _

_ But that was easier said than done.  _

_ Starting with the fact that it was apparently his lackeys’ fault that his great-grandmother wound up involved with those time travellers. They idiots had convinced her that Corvus was trying to kill her, and that couldn’t be further from the truth. _

_ His machinations hinged on the fact that his great-grandmother would want to go back to Puerto Rico and marry Rodrigo, and he was finding that a very hard thing to accomplish.  _

_ For some reason, nothing was convincing Andrea to return. There was something stopping her. He had to find out what it was and convince her it wasn’t worth it. Maybe it was the advances in technology... _

_ “Sir, you wanted to see me?” Antonio turned around in his chair to see just the man he needed to see standing in front of his desk. He beckoned him to come and take a seat on the chair across his desk. _

_ Stenton was one of the few people in his circle of trust that actually had a brain. He had been the one to suggest the solution of letting their agent get captured to assuage Andrea that there was no plot to kill her. And while that should have been enough, they clearly needed something more. _

_ “Yes, Stenton, thank you for coming. I need your expertise once again to answer this two-part question for me.” _

_ Stenton sat straight and nodded once. “Of course, what do you need?” _

_ Antonio took a deep breath. Despite the fact that he trusted Stenton, the man had no idea about time travel. It was better that way, plausible deniability and all that. For all he knew, he was answering questions about morality and ethics. That’s at least what he told him the last time. _

_ “You mustn’t repeat a word of this to anyone. And you are to take this as a hypothetical, no questions asked.” _

_ “Understood.” _

_ “I need you to find out what would convince a woman from 1900’s Puerto Rico to stay in the 21st century.” _

_ Stenton looked puzzled, to say the least. “Well, technology would be my biggest guess at first…” _

_ Antonio nodded. “Yes sure, but there has to be something more. Someone from that epoch might be entranced with technology at first, but something else has to be at play.” _

_ “That was what I was going to follow up with…” _

_ Antonio listened as Stenton explained it all to him. And he grew furious. He didn’t have enough time before history caught up to him. He had to stop this. _


	7. Political

_ **Excerpt from Chapter 4 of Through Time and Space Fic** _

_ Kate felt like her head was spinning. She looked towards the rest of the team, who were all equally dumbfounded, and back to Andy, still refusing to look or even say a word. _

_ “How do we know you’re telling the truth?” Kate asked, turning back to Antonio. Her mouth felt dry, and she wondered if the saloon had a bottle of whiskey or something to help her deal with her thirst and dizzying information. _

_ Antonio opened his arms wide open. “Why would I lie?” _

_ “There could be plenty of reasons,” Ella countered. “First you tried to kill Andy-” _

_ “I never-!” Antonio caught himself raising his voice, and recomposed his demeanour before calmly continuing, “I apologize. But for the last time: I never wanted to kill Andrea. As I mentioned, my lackeys were told to keep an eye for her, to make sure she didn’t go anywhere. I knew that as long as my great-grandmother got married, I would be fine.” _

_ Laila looked repulsed by his self-centered language. “And why don’t we ask Andy what she wants?” _

_ “What about my existence?” Antonio said with a huff. “I am about to be erased, because of something you guys did.” _

_ “I will go back,” Andy said softly, getting everyone around the table to look at her. “It’s what I must do.” _

_ Kate felt her blood boil at that. “Like hell it is.” _

_ Andy whipped her head up to look at Kate in the eyes, and Kate could see the torment and hurt happening right before her eyes. “And what choice do I have? Antonio is right. If I don’t I will never have children and Antonio wouldn’t exist.” _

_ “Not exactly a bad thing,” Dean murmured softly so that the rest of the team could hear. _

_ But Kate shook her head. “So what? It’s your life. You shouldn’t be burdened by what could or might happen.” _

_ “But what about everything you said? About me having to go back? History being changed?” _

_ “I was wrong.” _

_ Andy sighed. “Nonetheless, it’s not like I can keep playing time traveller forever. Once this is done, then what? I would be alone-” _

_ “You would never be alone…” Kate took a deep breath and put her hand out on the table, palm up for Andy to take if she wanted to. “I love you Kate, a lot-” _

_ “No!” Antonio burst up from his chair and whipped out a gun, pointing it right at Kate. “I will not have you corrupting her mind. She is meant to marry Rodrigo.” _

_ Dean had been ready and he whipped out his own gun, standing up as well. The rest of the Corvus agents around the room also readied their weapons. _

_ “Seems like we have a bit of a stand-off,” Kate said, looking around. She didn’t dare to move her hand. _

* * *

Leo Blanchard was a relic of a man. He was white, straight, and not interested. 

He took the _ Time Chasers _ manuscript and published it on a whim, mostly because his daughter Mary Margaret liked it, and she usually had a good eye for these sort of things. But he wasn’t here for the PC agenda, he could care less for the diverse cast or the potential gay romance. He shuddered just thinking about it. “Bunch of crazy is what it is,” was his general opinion on the matter.

He liked numbers, and he wasn’t particularly keen on what was causing his property to trend on twitter.

“What the hell is this ‘fic’ here?” he asked his daughter, turning his screen to face her. He didn’t have the patience for social media or its lingo either. They came up with a new term for everything nowadays.

Mary Margaret smiled patiently as she looked at his screen. “It’s a fictional story created by fans.”

“But it’s using Regina Mills’ characters. It’s a breach of her IP,” he harrumphed.

“Technically not. It’s a free medium. People are allowed to write stories using her characters, as long as they don’t profit from it.”

Leo’s brows furrowed. He didn’t like this. He looked once more from his computer screen to the tablet with the numbers. “And how can I know whether or not this fic isn’t taking clients away from me?”

Mary Margaret sighed. “Because fanfics work on the premise that you know the characters. To know the characters, you need to have read the book, which means they have purchased the book.”

He nodded slowly, and Mary Margaret felt like maybe he was understanding. “Get Regina Mills in here at once.”

She diligently did as he requested, skirting around the reason why when Regina asked.

Later that day, Regina came into their offices, and Mary Margaret smiled apologetically.

“Now can I know what this is about?” Regina asked, a bit tersely.

Mary Margaret wasn’t too sure herself, but from the questions her father had asked, she could figure it out. But she wasn’t about to be the messenger. “Community engagement,” she supplied, very unhelpfully.

Regina looked at her puzzled, but didn’t say anything else until they reached Leopold Blanchard’s office.

“Regina Mills!” he greeted, standing up. “Come in, come in. Can I get you anything?”

“No thank you, Mr. Blanchard.” Regina didn’t have time for pleasantries. The man gave her the creeps. But she wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“Please, call me Leo, and sit down, will you?” he said with the fakest smile Regina had ever seen. He then turned to his daughter and said, “That will be all, can you close the door behind you?”

Mary Margaret did as asked, leaving them be.

Regina wasn’t going to waste any time being in a private meeting with the man. “You wanted to see me?”

“Yes, yes. I don’t suppose you’ve seen Twitter lately, have you?”

Regina took a moment to gage her options. She could either play it dumb, but she figured it wouldn’t do her much use to be completely dumb. “I have. I saw that Time Chasers was trending.”

Leo nodded. “Yes, and do you know why?”

“I don’t. I don’t have much time to peruse Twitter,” Regina responded coldly.

“This is why.” He handed her a tablet that had Emma’s tweet. It had garnered thousands of likes, and over a 1.5 thousand responses.

“And? What does this have to do with me?” Regina asked, handing the tablet back, her face an emotionless mask.

Leo leaned back in his chair and didn’t say anything at first.

“I want you to denounce this fan, and tell your fan community to ease up on their activities. Eventually, ban them altogether.”

“I beg your pardon?!” Regina snapped.

Leo leaned forward in his chair. “You heard me. This….Swan character and that Time Love whatever are robbing me- us- you!”

Regina felt her scowl deepen. “They are doing no such thing. These people are inspired by my novels, and I have no wish to tell them what they can or can’t do.”

“Well sweetheart-”

“I’m not your sweetheart.” Oh, how Regina wanted to slap the man’s smirk off of his face. Gift horse or not, she was not about to be demeaned.

“Listen. I have been remarkably patient with your new age bullshit story. But I will be introducing some new changes, because this is not how I, or Blanchard Publishing, does business.”

“Changes?” Regina asked, a hint of mockery in her voice. “And pray tell, what would those changes be?”

“First, you will denounce your fans. Tell them that they can quote your novel, do think pieces, draw art, whatever. But drop these stories they’re doing. I’ve heard a plethora of authors do the same, like that uh, what’s her name, Anne Rice? I heard she sent lawyers after those good-for-nothings.”

Regina pursed her lips, saying nothing.

“And also, you need to introduce a new character.” Leo couldn’t say he had ever read a word about her novel, but he had been told enough to know that he needed some changes.

“Oh do I?” She didn’t even bother to disguise the contempt in her voice.

“Yeah. Introduce a character that readers can relate to. A love interest to that Cassie character.” 

“I don’t have any character named Cassie,” Regina was going to be petty and pedantic about it, that was for sure.

Leo let out a huff. “You know, the main character in your book.”

“I have five.”

Leo slammed his hands on the table. “Stop playing games, you know who I am talking about.”

Regina rolled her eyes. “What about _ Kate _? She has a love interest. It’s part of the novel’s process.”

“Right, but she’s gay, right?”

“And what about it?” Regina never felt the intense urge to wring someone’s neck, but she was about to go off on this man.

“Well, a majority of readers, the readers we’re trying to cater to, don’t have any characters they can connect to.”

“And what kind of character would that be?”

“You know, your basic average reader.”

“You mean a straight white guy,” Regina spat.

Leo shrugged. “You say that like it’s a bad thing. We’re talking about the majority of the population here. Anyway, I think you can add a character and make him this Kate’s love interest. Maybe a dashing rogue out of time, you know the type. Like Indiana Jones.”

Regina stood up, her voice rising as well. “Perhaps you are too thick-headed to understand this, but Kate is a lesbian. She is attracted to women, and I’ve said as much in the novel. Why on earth would I change that?!”

Leo chuckled as if this was a friendly conversation. “You can say it’s a phase, I don’t give a crap how you do it, just do it.”

“No,” Regina said.

Leo stood up as well, splaying his hands over his desk. “You will, otherwise you can kiss your publishing contract goodbye.”

“What!? You can’t do that.”

“I can and I will,” Leo said. He straightened himself, and adjusted his suit jacket. “And because I’m a generous man, I’ll give you a week to think about it. I know you’ll come to the right decision. You can leave now.”

Regina couldn’t storm out of the building fast enough. She heard Mary Margaret calling after her, but she didn’t care or want to know.

How fucking dare he. This was her story, her characters, why did he have to change it? Everything had been going fine, she thought that they were truly fine with her having a queer character.

Clearly it wasn’t the case. More likely than not Leopold Blanchard had just been letting the money come in, and now that he found out about the fandom and felt threatened by it, he wanted to get involved.

She sat at her desk for hours as if under a trance. She couldn’t believe she was going to have to choose between tearing down everything that her novels stood for, as well as her own beliefs, or lose out on her publishing contract. 

Sure, she could go to other places, and spite the man. But what would happen to her current contract? Or her current books?

Regina’s phone vibrated with a new message, taking her out of her thoughts. She picked up her phone and saw it was a message from Emma.

_ ‘Hey, are we still on tonight to do the collab?’ _

_ ‘No. I don’t feel like it. I will let you know when I do.’ _

_ ‘Is everything okay?’ _

Regina hadn’t told Emma about having the meeting with Leopold, and maybe it was for the best.

_ ‘Just a complicated day.’ _

‘😟 _ anything you want to talk about?’ _

_ ‘No.’ _

_ ‘Well, when you do, I’m here _🤗’

She knew Emma meant well, but at that moment, she snapped. _ ‘And why do you care?’ _

_ ‘Excuse me? Are you legit asking why I care if you’re upset??’ _

_ ‘I’m telling you I’m fine.’ _

_ ‘You said no such thing Regina. Newsflash, I have something like a lie detector, I can tell when people are lying, and your readings are off the charts.’ _

_ ‘Oh well then forgive me. Why can’t you just leave well enough alone? Maybe I don’t want to talk about it?’ _

_ ‘That’s fine! But you’re the one asking me why I care and then trying to convince me that you’re fine.... _

_ ‘So you know what, fine. If you want to wallow in your misery and not talk to me, that’s fine. Just don’t expect me to be here and waiting for you. Because yeah, I care about you, a whole freaking lot, and you have no right to act that way. I was just wanting to check in on you. Forgive me for asking. Or for caring.’ _

Regina cringed and groaned. Emma was right. She was being a jerk. Emma had been nothing but kind to her, and she just closed off and snapped. She had to cool off. Doing something productive would get her back on track.

She called her sister to see if she could ask around for a favour.

“A favour? What happened?”

And Regina told her about her meeting with Leopold Blanchard.

“Those good for nothings! Do you need me to wring his neck? I will jump on a plane there and storm into his office-”

Despite the situation, Regina let out a small smile. “No, I just need you to get me in touch with a good lawyer. I want to know my options.”

“Don’t you have any?” Zelena asked.

“Yes, but they’re all under Blanchard’s thumb. They’re not going to help me,” Regina said with a sigh.

“Leave that to me. I will leave that man with nothing but his underwear once this is over.” Zelena paused for a second and then added, “What else?”

“What else?” Regina asked, puzzled. “Just that.”

“No, something else is bothering you, I can tell.”

Regina scoffed. “You can tell? We’re on the phone, you can’t even see me?”

“Don’t have to, I’m your sister.” She could practically hear Zelena’s smugness in her voice.

With a sigh Regina told her about how she snapped at Emma.

“Have you apologized?”

“I-no-”

“Why the bloody hell not?!” Zelena practically screeched, getting Regina to yank her cellphone away from her ear.

“Because I just insulted and demeaned her, I can’t just turn around and apologize like I’m some demented and disjointed weirdo.”

“Wel, you are demented, and a weirdo…” Zelena countered.

“Thanks,” Regina deadpanned.

“But I love you for it. Anyway, apologize!”

“And what if she doesn’t want to talk to me?” Regina asked. She didn’t want to lose Emma, but maybe she already had.

“Then go and talk to her, face to face! You live near Boston, don’t you? Take your bodyguard and go!”

Maybe Zelena was right. Oh, what the hell, she usually was, in her own way. After Regina finished talking to Zelena, she went back to her messages with Emma and sent a brief apology, and an invitation to meet.

_ ‘Look, I’m sorry for snapping earlier, you are right. There is a lot going on and I took it out on you. Can we meet and talk?’ _

Nothing. Emma clearly read the message, but obviously didn’t want to talk. Regina had to make this right, before she lost Emma.

Regina exited out of Twitter and pulled up her contacts. She tapped on Mulan’s name and waited as the phone rang. Seemed like today was a day for cashing in favours.

“You need something Ms. Mills?”

“Yes, I need a favour tracking someone down.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Lacey asked from Emma’s doorway. It had been a couple of horus and Lacey was starting to get worried.

The bundle of blankets formerly known as Emma responded, “No. Just remind me to never fall for anyone ever again.”

“Oh you poor thing,” Lacey said, walking in and sitting by the edge of Emma’s bed, taking care to not sit on anywhere that might be her friend. “Do I have to chase down Regina Mills? What did she do?”

“She was a monumental jerk. I was trying to be nice and ask her what upset her, and she just practically ends up yelling at me and demanding why I care.”

Lacey cringed. “Ouch. Did she at least try to apologize?”

“Kinda, but I don’t want to hear it.”

There was a knock on the door and Lacey frowned. “Did you order food?”

“No.”

Lacey sighed and got up from the bed, and walked over to the door. She hoped it wasn’t a prank.

As soon as she opened the door, she was sure someone was punking her.

Because that was the only reason that even relatively made the fact that Regina freaking Mills was standing at their door make sense.

“Hi, can I come in?”

* * *

** _Excerpt from Book Three of the Time Chasers_ **

_ “Kate! You are okay?” Andy rushed over to where Kate was laying, sprawled out against a wall, clutching her chest. Of course, Kate had to be the one to bring a sword to a gun-fight. _

_ In her defense, she wanted to be historically accurate. Not that Corvus cared much. _

_ “I’ll live,” Kate said with a wince. “Help me up and we can meet at the rendez-vous.” _

_ Andy shook her head. “I am not moving you until this gets patched up. It could get worse.” _

_ “Unless you have a bullet-removal kit around, I’m not sure what you can do.” _

_ “A lot. Historical remedies, remember?” Andy proceeded to grab the hem of her dress and tore the fabric. She managed to create a long strip of fabric. Next, she grabbed some of the hairpins that were sustaining her hairdo. _

_ “Unfortunately, I do not really have the time to search for some alcohol,” Andy said apologetically. _

_ She proceeded to remove the bullet from the wound, while Kate bit her lip with all that she had in order to avoid giving them away their location, and after some minutes struggling with it, Andy managed to grab it. _

_ “Perfect! Now let’s patch it up.” _

_ “I think not.” _

_ They turned around and saw a group of Corvus agents with their guns trained at the pair. One of them gestured to Andy with his gun. “You’re coming with us.” _

_ “I will do no such thing!” Andy retorted angrily. _

_ “You don’t have much of a choice,” the Corvus agent said, shaking his gun a bit as if to prove a point. The other guard silently walked up to Kate and cocked his gun against her head. _

_ Kate was furious. She tried to think of a way to beat them, to trick them, anything, but her mind was foggy. She had lost a lot of blood, and she was in a lot of pain. She could barely move a muscle, let alone disarm two men while practically becoming one with the wall keeping her upright. _

_ “At least let me finish patching her up,” Andy pleaded. “She’s lost a lot of blood.” _

_ The guard that had his gun trained on Kate shrugged. “The boss doesn’t want any delays. Stand up and come with us.” _

_ Andy didn’t move at first, and Kate knew that they had no choice but to comply. _

_ “I’ll be okay Andy,” Kate said with a small smile, holding her wound with one hand to staunch the bleeding. _

_ Squeezing one of Kate’s knees, Andy said, “I’ll go with you two, as long as you promise me you won’t kill her.” _

_ Both agents shrugged. They had their instructions. “Sure.” _

_ Moving her hand, Andy grabbed hold of Kate’s. “Hang in there okay? The rest of the team will find you soon, and then you can come rescue me.” _

_ Kate smiled and nodded. “Won’t rest till I do.” _

_ “Alright, break it up you two.” The agent with his gun trained on Andy grabbed her by the puffed-up sleeve of her dress,dragged her up and started taking her away. _

_ “Kate!” Andy screamed, stretching her free arm back towards Kate. _

_ “Don’t worry Andy, we’ll get you back!” Kate yelled back, with hardly any strength left. _

_ “Don’t count on it.” that was the last thing Andy heard before her entire world went black. _


	8. Alternate Ending

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just want to say, despite the name of the chapter, this isn't an alternate ending.
> 
> I just named all the chapters as different AU's.

** _Excerpt from Chapter 5 of Through Time and Space Fic_ **

_ “I can’t believe we got out of that alive,” Ella breathed, clutching her knees. _

_ Laila was looking out from the direction where they came to see if they were being followed. “Well, we only did because Andy held a gun to Antonio and bargained with him to let us leave.” _

_ “Right.” Ella nodded. Then she asked Kate,. “Any chance you can open that car faster?” _

_ But Kate didn’t answer. She was just standing there, as if in shock, chest heaving from the exertion. _

_ Dean waved his hand in front of Kate. “Yo, anyone home?” _

_ “You want to take over driving?” Ella asked, straightening up. _

_ “If I had the keys, sure,” he scoffed. _

_ Laila walked to Kate, and grabbing her by her upper arms, she said, “Look, I know you’re a bit in a tizzy. A lot just happened. Between your love confession and her kissing you-” _

_ Dean interrupted with, “She kind of did kiss her to grab Kate’s gun though, didn’t she?” _

_ Laila and Ella both levelled Dean with a glare. Laila continued, “But come on, you won’t do Andy any favours by staying here like this. Let’s go back to the base, regroup. We’ll figure out another way of saving her.” _

_ Kate nodded once. “Right, you’re right. Let’s go.” _

_ Once they returned to the present, Jag was very confused. “Wasn’t this a rescue mission? Where’s Andy?” _

_ “Well, funny story…” _

* * *

“S-sure.” Lacey stepped aside and let Regina in. As she was about to close the door, she saw the lady from the other day that had been with Regina. Emma mentioned that that was Regina’s bodyguard, Mulan. “Does your bodyguard want to come in?”

Regina shook her head. “No, it’s alright, she prefers to wait outside. Is Emma here right now?”

“Yeah, give me a minute to see if she’s up for this.” Lacey went to Emma’s bedroom and gently nudged the blankets that had her friend’s form.

“What?” she heard Emma mutter.

“I’m not sure how to tell you this, but Regina Mills is currently in our living room.”

Lacey had not been prepared for the way that Emma yelped and tore the covers from over her head. “She’s  _ what _ !?”

“She’s here,” Lacey said, pointing back towards the living room. Well, she thought she was in the living room, but Regina had just approached, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Hi,” Regina’s apologetic voice drifted from the doorway. When both Lacey and Emma looked at her, Regina added, “I’m sorry, I heard Emma’s yell and just wanted to see if everything was okay.”

Lacey gave Emma a pointed look as if to say ‘give her a chance’, before she said out loud, “I’ll let you two talk.”

Before Emma could say anything to counter, she was left alone with Regina.

It was at that moment that Emma’s pride for her mess of a room dissipated. Her room looked like an absolute pigsty. “I’m really sorry for the way my room looks, I wasn’t expecting visitors.”

Regina shook her head. “Please don’t apologize, I’m the one who dropped in unannounced.”

Emma scooched over and patted the edge of the bed closest to Regina. “You can sit down you know?”

After Regina sat on the bed, Emma asked, “Speaking of, how did you even find out where I lived?”

“I promise it’s not as creepy as it looks,” Regina responded with a small laugh. “I figured that Ruby would know where you lived. And since I think Mulan has a bit of a crush on your resident bartender, I figured I could get her to talk to Ruby and find out.”

Emma nodded. “That tracks. But why come in the middle of the night?”

Regina gave Emma a look. “Who in their right, or drunk mind, would actually believe they were seeing me in the middle of the night walking around Storybrooke University Campus?”

“Touche.” For a moment, Emma forgot the entire reason for why Regina would have sought her out, and even to the fact that they were arguing. When it hit her, she frowned. “Better question, why did you even come here?”

“I wanted to talk to you. Like I said in my message, I hated how we left things.”

Emma scowled. “I think you left things perfectly clear.”

“Emma…” 

And with just her name, in that soft and broken voice, Regina had Emma’s entire attention.

“It’s not easy for me to trust…” Regina began. “Since my fame, I’ve had many people that feigned friendship and more just to get something from me. It was wrong of me to lump you in with the rest of them, not when you’ve been nothing but kind and respectful.”

Regina let out a shaky breath. She looked down at her hands, wondering if there was any point in continuing to talk. But then Emma reached out and put her hand over Regina’s, and with just a smile, Regina felt emboldened to continue..

“I know you were just worried about me, and I reacted poorly, but well, I can’t really say that I’ve really had many people in my life who had been so insistent on finding out what had me so upset, barring my mother and sister.”

Emma sighed. “I know it’s a bit out of left field to be friends with a fan, especially a shipper-”

Regina was quick to shake her head. “That doesn’t bother me. In fact, it was the love you had for the characters and their relationships that brought me to find out about you. I’ve been so paranoid, thinking that you were going to somehow do something. I was just coming to the worst conclusions, and I hated myself for it, but I was so ready for the other shoe to drop...for my happy ending to be still just out of reach.”

“Hence the ellipses whenever I say I wanted to ask you a question?” Emma asked with a smirk. At Regina’s chuckle, Emma added, “I’d never do that to you,Regina. I care about you...a lot, and I just want to be there for you, like a good friend would.”

“Just a friend?” Regina asked, and that was all it took.

Emma surged forward and brought her lips to meet Regina’s. She straddled Regina’s waist as she deepened their kiss, feeling Regina’s hands move across her back. Eventually, they had to pause for a moment, out of breath with flushed cheeks.

“Definitely not just a friend,” Emma said, giving Regina quick peck.

Regina let out a laugh. She then bit her lip, squeezing Emma’s thighs. “That’d be a hell of a kiss between friends though.”

“Oh for sure. But before we get back to that, will you now tell me what’s wrong?”

Regina let out a groan and fell back on the bed. Emma stayed straddled over Regina, placing her hands on either side of Regina’s head, effectively pinning her down.

“You do know I’m not going to let you leave until you tell me, right?” Emma asked.

“I had a vague idea that that would be the case.”

Emma went to lie down beside Regina on the bed. “I’m listening.”

And so Regina told Emma about her meeting with Leopold, and of his stupid and homophobic ideas.

Emma was absolutely livid and indignant. At one point she was practically shaking in anger, and Regina noticed.

“Hey,” Regina said, surging sideways to kiss Emma softly on the lips, running her hands up Emma’s arm to her shoulder, rubbing soothing circles. “I’ll figure something out.”

Emma smiled, shoulders relaxing. “But you’re not going to make Kate straight, right?”

Regina laughed. “Most certainly not.”

“Good. And besides, you’re Regina freaking Mills. Kick this Leo guy to the curb and take your novels somewhere else. I’m sure any place would love to have you.”

“Oh yes. Worst case scenario, I’ll reveal myself to be TLC,” Regina said in a conspiratorial whisper. “Oh how the fandom would lose their collective minds. And spite Leo to hell and back.”

That got Emma to burst out laughing. “That is literally the worst idea ever.”

Regina opened her mouth in mock shock. “How dare you? It is the best idea ever.”

Emma snorted. “Yeah, and like you said, can you imagine the fandom? People already think that you’re TLC, can you imagine how vindicated they’d feel?”

“Like kids on their birthdays. And anyway, I don’t see how people can reach that conclusion. I know you’ve told me that it’s a popular theory, but there’s literally no proof. I made sure of that.”

“Oh you are opening a can of worms,” Emma groaned. “They don’t need concrete proof. They think that you write the same, and obviously that means you two are the same person. That’s enough reason for them. But I don’t know, I think you’re right...I don’t see it either.”

“Oh really?” Regina said, going now to straddle Emma, hands still on the latter’s arms, while she slowly inched their faces closer. “You don’t see it.”

“Not at all.”

They shared another sweet kiss. And then a deeper one that spoke volumes about what they felt, and Regina felt elated. 

This was a new chapter for her, one that she was very curious and excited to see where it went.

* * *

** _Excerpt from Book Four of the Time Chasers - Coming out this Fall!_ **

_ Andy groaned. She’d been here for nearly a week, and she was going crazy with the suspense. None of the men who’d been coming in to feed her would tell her anything, and the mansion she was being kept in didn’t hold any information about who owned it. She knew that Corvus had her, but why? They didn’t want to kill her, certainly, but clearly they did want something with her. _

_ But she wouldn’t wait until she had an answer. She could figure out the what and the why once she was back home. _

_ Home. It gave her a pang of...something, but she barely thought of Puerto Rico as her home anymore. When she thought of home, she thought of the apartment she shared with Kate, and all of her friends. _

_ She shook her head. There would be a time to reminisce once she was free. _

_ She tried to think of a way to escape. It wasn’t like there were a lot of options, the windows on her third floor window had bars, and trying to fight the guards had little success. They had made sure only the bare minimum was kept in her room. Only a bed, a desk, a couple of chairs, and a bookcase. _

_ She looked out the window. Sun was almost gone. Surely a contingent of guards would be coming. She dragged a chair closer to the door, and got ready. _

_ Suddenly, she heard the lock jiggle, someone was opening the door. Andy frowned, this was too soon. She didn’t have time to pick up the chair and swing it by the time the door opened and three figures stumbled in, closing the door behind them. _

_ Andy stared in amazement at the newcomers. “Aren’t you all a bit short for a stormtrooper?” _

_ Dean grinned. “We have taught you well.” _

_ “What can I say, they were fascinating movies,” Andy commented, going to hug Laila and Ella. She knew Dean wasn’t too much of a hugger, so she just settled for a quick grin, which he returned with a nod. _

_ And then she frowned. “Where’s Kate?” _

_ “Well…” _


	9. Everyone Lives

** _Excerpt from Chapter 6 of Through Time and Space Fic_ **

_ “No!” Antonio screeched. His hand shook as he raised the gun. “I won’t lose everything. I can’t. This is my life!” _

_ “No,” Andy ground out. “This is my life you are trying to control, and I will not allow you to decide for me.” _

_ “Even if it means I’m never born?” Antonio seethed. _

_ Andy pursed her lips. “I won’t live my life and die one day only to know that my purpose was to give birth to someone so that you could eventually be born.” _

_ They were alone in an old warehouse. They had travelled to some old ghost town in 1967, and Andy could guess why. Judging by his age, Andy surmised that Antonio would have been born around this time. _

_ Andy heard the fight going on outside, and she just hoped that Kate and their friends were safe as they warded off the contingent of Corvus agents. As she slowly inched away from her deranged great-grandson, she felt around for a weapon. She probably should have grabbed a proper weapon when she rushed past the mobile command center Corvus had set up once they landed, but she had the propensity of grabbing what was nearest to her, and fashioning it into a weapon. This time, it was a pair of bolt cutters that she was holding like a bat. _

_ “Do you really think you can get away?” Antonio asked with a wry chuckle. “Or that you can beat me with that?” _

_ Andy shrugged. “Between a pair of bolt cutters that I can hit you upside the head, and a handgun that you can’t fire, I’ll choose my weapon, thanks.” _

_ Antonio sounded like a petulant child as he yelled, “I can fire it!” _

_ To prove his point he fired one shot upwards, and was rewarded with a shower of glass from the skylight above. Antonio began to yelp and swat the glass away. _

_ Taking advantage of the chaos, Andy dropped the bolt cutters and rushed out the door, yelling back, “You can’t shoot your gun at me if you still want to exist!” _

_ Running out of the warehouse, she found that her friends had all but managed to defeat the agents, and were now standing in the middle of the clearing, nursing each other’s wounds and reloading, clearly intending on storming the warehouse. _

_ Making a beeline towards them, Andy yelled out, “Kate!” _

_ Kate whipped around, and was nearly tackled by Andy’s body colliding with hers, but she caught her and held fast, hugging the other woman tightly, as if afraid of what would happen if she let go. _

_ “I thought I would never see you again,” Kate murmured softly into the crook of Andy’s neck. _

_ “I’d have found a way back to you,” Andy responded just as softly, because to her, Kate was her home and her heart. She couldn’t imagine herself without Kate in her life. To punctuate that, she backed her head and torso from the hug ever so slightly, looked Kate in the eye for a moment, before going to kiss her on the lips. _

_ It wasn’t like their first kiss, which had been more of a messy distraction concocted by Andy. No, this one was tender and slow. _

_ “NOOOO!” Antonio’s cry rang through the air.  _

_ The group of five all looked back towards the warehouse, and the dishevelled man standing there. Andy took a protective stance with her arms spread out, herding her friends to stand behind her. _

_ But Antonio just grit his teeth and cocked the gun. Between the cuts all over his face and the crazed look in his eyes, Andy wasn’t sure her great grandson was all there. “If I can’t shoot you, you can be damned sure I will kill every single one of your friends!” _

_ Not losing a second of time, Laila aimed and shot at Antonio, hitting him in his left thigh. _

_ His howl of pain echoed around the abandoned area as he crumbled to the ground, dropping his gun in favour of clutching at his thigh. _

_ “What do you say we head home?” Laila breathed. “I need a bath and I am so done with these all-out brawls.” _

_ Kate and Andy grinned at one another. They simultaneously went to grab each other’s hands as Andy said, “Couldn’t agree more.” _

_ Ella cleared her throat. “I’m gonna be the voice of reason for a second here. What do we do with all of this?” _

_ She gestured to the pile of Corvus agents that were either knocked out or incapacitated, as well as the maniacal Antonio who was yelling som unintelligible gibberish. _

_ “Easy,” Kate said. “We take their SUV back with us. They can’t travel back to the present, and will be forced to stay here. Sounds fitting enough, don’t you think?” _

_ Andy nodded. “It’s what he deserves.” _

* * *

No one could have prepared Leo Blanchard for the wrath of Regina Mills.

_ Announcement: I will no longer be a client of @BlanchardPublishing. Leo Blanchard, CEO, is a homophobic mysogynist. He had the audacity of trying to change and control how I would write my novel. But I refuse to let that happen.  _

_ I also refuse to belittle or denounce the fandom, as I had been told to do. I love the #TimeChasers fandom, and seeing how everyone comes together to create beautiful works of art makes me exceptionally happy and moves me more than you can imagine. More than that, hearing the stories about how people met through this book is what motivates me to keep writing and to keep creating. _

If getting publicly shamed on Twitter hadn’t been enough, she had stormed his office that same day with the force of a woman scorned.

“I will not allow your simplistic attempts to control what I write. So, if you haven’t had the chance to check Twitter yet, consider our contract terminated.”

Mary Margaret, who had been eavesdropping, and very much knew of the Twitter storm that Regina had created, walked inside. She might have also reached out to Regina after the tweet to see if she could help her get out of the contract, but her father didn’t know that.

Her father was seething. “You will regret this.”

“No,” Mary Margaret said, getting both of them to turn to her. But she just kept glaring at her father. “ _ You  _ will regret this. What you did is disrespectful. I am taking Regina, and other clients somewhere where their stories will be appreciated.”

Leopold let out a condescending guffaw. “Oh please, and where will that be? The losers at Scholastic?”

“No.” Mary Margaret puffed her chest out as she said, “I’m starting my own company.”

“What? You can’t do that! It’s a breach of...well, everything!”

Mary Margaret shook her head. “No, I checked. My good friend Mal and her pals are very good with contracts. We will find a way to get every last client of yours. Just watch us.”

Regina had seriously underestimated Mary Margaret, and was grinning widely when Mary Margaret turned to her, held out her hand, and asked, “So, Regina, want to be Happily Ever After Publishing’s first client?”

“Of course,” Regina said, shaking the offered hand.

* * *

The next year ended up being a whirlwind.

Mary Margaret’s new publishing company took off. With Regina as a main client, and the scathing Twitter post she had made, old clients from Blanchard Publishing quickly made the move and terminated their contracts with Leopold.

And Regina’s new contract allowed her to publish on her own time - Book Four was a resounding success, and Regina was gearing up to start Book Five.

But the best part were the featurettes.

It turned out that Mary Margaret was a fierce fan of the books, and all that she had said in the past was just part of a speech her father had concocted, ‘part of the image we want to present,’ he had insisted. So apart from the scheduling freedom she now had, she also could write featurettes.

“And what are ‘featurettes?” Regina asked.

“The in-between moments. From what I could tell, the fans love to read about the little moments - the team playing games, or going for a movie night, maybe even teaching Andy about the 21st century.”

Regina could hardly believe what she was hearing. “And you’d be okay with me writing that?”

Mary Margaret nodded, the tiniest of sly smiles on her face. “Of course! As long as you still write the big novels, and they remain canonical within the world, then, by all means, write to your heart’s content! I’m sure you’ll find the time.”

Regina’s relationship with Emma also blossomed. Of course, when it became public, Emma’s image was scrutinized by anyone and everyone with thumbs and a social media account. But Emma was a long-time denizen of social media, so she didn’t let opinions and critics get her down. She was proud and crazy enamoured with Regina.

The only awkward thing was the people who wondered if Emma being in a relationship with Regina was making TLC jealous.

“I mean, I think TLC might be a bit jealous,” Emma snickered. She was cuddling with Regina on the couch in the latter’s home, checking her notifications.

Regina scoffed. “I think TLC is a very level-headed person. Can’t have the mystery and allure by being so emotional. Especially considering they’re writing a new fic from what I hear.”

“Right,” Emma drawled. “Super level-headed.”

“I am! And besides, TLC has nothing on me.”

Emma rolled her eyes. And then she smirked as she countered, “Except that she ships Kandy.”

“I never said I don’t ship them! And besides, I thought it wasn’t important to you whether or not Kandy was canon.”

“It’s not! But it’d be nice if the author of a pretty cool series with a potential gay ship would tell her awesome girlfriend if they were going to be canon or not.”

“And ruin my reputation as the Queen of Secrecy? I’m not telling you a thing!” Regina said in mock exasperation, grabbing a pillow and lightly smacking her with it. “You will have to read and find out.”

“Oh fine! At least tell me if it happens in the next book?”

“Perhaps, and maybe I’ll even let you read a manuscript,” Regina coyly said, depositing a soft kiss on Emma’s lips.

* * *

**_Excerpt from the manuscript of Book Five of the Time Chasers - FOR EMMA SWAN’S EYES ONLY_**

_ “You wanted to talk to me?” Andy asked, going out onto their apartment balcony, relishing in breathing in the refreshing summer air. _

_ It had been over a week since they rescued Andy from Antonio. Since they got back, they had fallen back into the old rhythm, for there were still dormant Corvus agents wreaking havoc, but they hadn’t really talked about what would happen now that the threat was truly over. _

_ As Antonio had been left stranded in Bavaria, in 1753, there was no way he could come back to do anything to them. Thanks to his paranoidical tendencies, no one knew the truth about Andy, so Corvus wouldn’t be able to hurt her again. _

_ Kate had no idea she’d be this nervous, but she was, and could only manage a weak nod. She was weary of hoping for too much, of having her heart crushed. They had only skirted the dangerous side of flirtatious friends, and she wasn’t sure what she would do if Andy’s answer was no. “Yeah.” _

_ “What is this about?” _

_ “Nuestro futuro,” Kate said, with her budding Spanish that made Andy smile, even though the accent was… still not excellent. But she was learning, and that was enough for Andy. _

_ “¿Y?” _

_ Kate switched back to English. She could barely manage her thoughts in one language, let alone try to translate it. “I was wondering, after all Antonio said, what you were going to do?” _

_ Andy frowned. She felt no remorse for her great grandson. He tried to control her life, to determine her fate. And she wouldn’t stand for that. She wanted to live her own life. After seeing the modern world, to think about having to settle for being some man’s homemaker, without a future, it made her nauseous. “He is a sick man. I would never, and have never let fate determine how I live my life. I will live when and where I want to. I have no pity for him. He can rot in Bavaria for all I care. I still can’t believe we conned him into staying in the past.” _

_ They shared a small chuckle over that. It had been the perfect plan. Busting Andy out, and then being ‘caught’ by Antonio, who proceeded to get them all  _

_ “Right...so, does that mean you’ll be staying in this time? The present I mean.” Kate asked, barely wanting to raise her hopes. _

_ “Yes,” Andy responded with a wide grin. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be, or who I’d rather be with.” _

_ Kate could barely contain her excitement, rushing forward to scoop Andy up in a hug and twirling her around. _

_ They were laughing by the time Kate put her back down, and Andy bit her lip, before surging forward and kissing Kate on the lips with vigour. _

* * *

_ Emma’s notes: 🍬🍬🍬 #KANDY LIVES BITCHES! _

**Author's Note:**

> And that was that!
> 
> It ended being a lot longer than anticipated. I definitely wasn't expecting the Time Chaser sequences to get so developed, but I just started writing and it just kept coming. It was pretty much inspired by mashing up Legends of Tomorrow with Timeless, except no super powers, more diverse, and probably more gay.
> 
> And I had been debating on whether I should include either just the fic or just the novel snippets, but ended up sticking with both because I felt like they both added to the story...between the contextual narrative of the story which [hopefully] showed how much Kate and Andy cared for one another, and the fans who love to write and take characters and make it their own, and how fics have the power to unite and inspire a fandom.
> 
> Anyway! I'll get down from my soapbox hahaha.
> 
> Please let me know what you think, I always love hearing what people's thoughts are.
> 
> I've also got a protostar fic as well, so once it's revealed, go check it out!


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